The Hanbali madhab was built over generations through students preserving Imam Ahmad’s answers, scholars collecting them, and later on organizing and verifying the positions attributed to him.

The Beginning of the Madhab

Most of the way fiqh is compiled has been through students asking the imams questions, writing them down, and then codifying them. Other than Imam al-Shafi’i, none of the four imams actually wrote their own fiqh. Even Imam Malik, who wrote the Muwatta, has his fiqh narrated from him in the form of questions asked by his students.

Similarly, Imam Ahmad did not write his own work of fiqh; his writings were confined mainly to hadith—most significantly the Musnad—along with a small number of treatises on topics like prayer, the rites of Hajj, and more, some of which have not survived. It came from decades of study and travel in pursuit of hadith, and his students relayed his answers. These students became known as “the Companions of the Questions” (اصحاب المسائل).

Scholars like Ibn Abi Ya’la counted hundreds of individuals who transmitted from him among different disciplines. A smaller number, around 30-40, by different accounts, specifically transmitted matters of fiqh. Chief among them were his sons, Salih and ‘Abdullah, and then his other students:

• Abu Dawud

• al-Kawsaj

• Ibn Hani

• Harb al-Kirmani

• al-Marwazi

• al-Athram

• Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh’s circle

They each had individually preserved collections in the form of Q&A, and this created the earliest phase of what would become the madhab.

One thing that needs to be clarified is that Imam Ahmad’s answers were not always the same. Sometimes, there are different answers reported from him on the same issue, and in other cases, more than one opinion was narrated from the earliest generations that he felt was legitimate, and he was reluctant to definitively rule one out in favor of another. In others, his answer showed the specific circumstances of the person asking or an answer given earlier in his life, which he reasoned through analogy in the absence of a text, and was later revised once a hadith or report reached him that was related to that question.

Methodology In Practice

There are two examples that show how Imam Ahmad and later Hanbali scholars treated reports from the Companions that appeared to point in different directions.

The first example is about a person who comes to the masjid for fajr and finds them already in congregational prayer. The question is: do they go to the back of the masjid and pray the sunnah of fajr, or do they join the imam in prayer and pray their sunnah immediately after?

Two reports from the Companions differ. ‘Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud is reported to have withdrawn to a corner of the masjid to complete his two rak’ahs before joining, while ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar is reported to have joined the obligatory prayer, praying his sunnah after.

Here, we see that two people from the Companions acted differently in the same situation. The hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, in which he questioned a man who had done as Ibn Mas’ud did, was read by Imam Ahmad and those after him as favoring Ibn ‘Umar’s practice. The Hanbali position followed suit, joining the Shafi’i and Maliki schools, while the Hanafi school went with Ibn Mas’ud’s practice.

The second example is about the execution of the Saba’iyyaj, the followers of ‘Abdullah Ibn Saba’, who claimed that ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib possessed divinity, and this happened during ‘Ali’s caliphate. ‘Ali had them burned alive after they refused to repent. However, Ibn ‘Abbas opposed not the execution, but the way it was done, stating that he would have had them executed by the sword instead.

The Hanbali position follows Ibn ‘Abbas here, believing that execution under the Shari’ah is to be done only by the sword, without exception for the nature of the offense. The evidence is a hadith in Musnad Ahmad, where Imam Ahmad did consider it to have weakness in its chain, but later scholars would elevate its standing to hasan. Coupled with Ibn ‘Abbas’s recorded position, the two together were judged sufficient to establish a ruling. This is a broader principle within the madhab, which is that strengthened evidence, in its meaning, is supported by other evidence.

Usul of the Madhab

Before looking at how the madhab developed, it helps to understand what Imam Ahmad relied on when deriving a ruling.

The first is an explicit text from the Qur’an or the Sunnah. Imam Ahmad did not depart from the text in favor of anything else, regardless of who held a differing view.

The second position is the position of the Companions. Where they were unanimous on a matter, Imam Ahmad held to their agreement without opposing it.

The third addresses cases where the Companions differed. Imam Ahmad would choose whichever of their positions were nearest to the Qur’an and Sunnah, and where no position seemed closer, he would simply relay the disagreement without ruling in favor of either side.

The fourth source is reliance on a mursal or weak hadith, provided nothing in that same area contradicts it. Scholars of the madhab are cautious to specify what “weak” means in this context, i.e., not a fabricated report, nor one narrated by someone known to lie or known for unreliable memory, but a hadith that has a chain that falls short of the standard while its content remains free of defect.

One of the contemporary imams today, Shaykh Abdulsalam al-Shuway’ir, discussed this principle and explained that Imam Ahmad’s preference for such a hadith over qiyas (analogical reasoning) served a specific purpose. Where a weak hadith and an analogical ruling arrived at the same conclusion, the student of knowledge was instructed to attribute the ruling to the hadith rather than to the analogy, so that their practice would remain tied to a transmitted text rather than to reasoning alone.

The fifth and final source is qiyas, and the sources are consistent in describing it as a last resort instead of a starting point. Imam Ahmad is reported to have said, when asked about analogy, that it is resorted to only in cases of necessity. Interestingly, in a lecture by Shaykh Shuway’ir, he compares this position to the permissibility of eating carrion in the absence of any other food, or performing tayammum in the absence of water. Likewise, Imam Ahmad is reported to have discouraged giving a legal opinion on any matter for which one could not point to an earlier imam who had already addressed it; advice aimed less at closing the pathway to independent reasoning than at insisting that reasoning proceed only after the evidence has been exhausted.

This way of approaching evidence also shaped how the early Hanbali scholars viewed speculative theology (kalam). Imam Ahmad warned strongly against engagement with it, and the earliest generations of Hanbali scholars accordingly built their legal reasoning on textual and linguistic grounds rather than on the tools of the theologians.

Consolidation Phase

Not long after Imam Ahmad’s death, scholars began gathering his many recorded opinions into one body of law. An early attempt by Muhammad Ibn Abi ‘Abdullah al-Hamadani, known as Mutawayh, reportedly filled seventy volumes (none of which survived). The more consequential early effort came from Abu Bakr al-Khallal (d. 311 AH), who traveled extensively to collect Imam Ahmad’s positions from roughly a hundred direct students and a further number of their own students, compiling the result into al-Jami’ al-Kabir. This work is also almost entirely lost, surviving only through the citations of later scholars such as Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayim, who had access to it.

Al-Khallal’s student, known as Ghulam al-Khallal, produced a follow-up compilation, al-Shafi, organized by fiqh chapter with full chains of transmission back to Ahmad, of which only a handful of pages have been recovered. Only in recent years has a large-scale project succeeded in gathering what remains of Imam Ahmad’s transmitted words across all disciplines into a single reference work spanning around twenty-two volumes, with the fiqh material alone occupying roughly a third of it.

Establishment Phase

Once the raw material had been gathered, the next challenge was deciding how to organize it and which positions best represented the madhab. Abu al-Qasim al-Khiraqi (d. 334 AH) produced what is considered the first matn of the school; a concise text that, where Imam Ahmad had transmitted more than one position on a matter, selected the view al-Khiraqi judged to be Imam Ahmad’s conclusion. Mukhtasar al-Khiraqi became the most influential text in the madhab’s early history, attracting, by one count, close to three hundred commentaries, the greatest of which is Ibn Qudama’s al-Mughni.

At the same time, scholars also needed a way to understand and interpret Imam Ahmad’s different statements. Ibn Hamid, a teacher of al-Qadi Abu Ya’la, composed Tahdhib al-Ajwhiba specifically to address how later students should read Imam Ahmad’s statements where he would sometimes diverge: which position should be preferred when the chronology of two conflicting answers is known, how to interpret Imam Ahmad’s characteristic phrases of approval or disapproval, and similar matters of method. Without this, it would have been difficult to form a clear and consistent understanding of the school.

Codification & Ibn Qudama

More than two centuries later, Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudama (d. 620 AH) took the next major step by writing books for different levels of students:

• al-’Umda: a brief text for beginners recording a single position per issue.

• al-Muqni’: somewhat fuller, recording multiple transmitted positions without extended arguments.

• al-Kafi: adding supporting evidence to those positions.

• al-Mughni: his most expansive work, incorporating extended comparison with the other legal schools and detailed argumentation. This book in particular would become the forefather of later, still-studied abridgments.

This is where the madhab begins to take the form of a more clearly defined school, with Ibn Qudama and Majd ad-Din ibn Taymiyyah presenting what they believed the madhab to be in terms of each era.

Reinvigoration: Ibn Taymiyyah

At this point, Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) enters the picture—the grandson of Majd ad-Din—and marks another important turn in the madhab’s development. He had multiple students, among them Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Muflih, and others, who preserved and transmitted his positions as an integral part of the school’s later scholarship, even when his views departed from the relied-upon Hanbali positions.

This matters because it helps explain how later Hanbali scholars dealt with the opinions of major scholars who sometimes differed from the relied-upon position of the madhab.

Verification, Second Codification, & Solidification

Not long after, Mansur al-Buhuti (d. 1051 AH) produced the commentaries that remain the school’s standard reference to this day:

• al-Rawd al-Murbi’ on Zad al-Mustaqni’

• Kashaf al-Qina’ on al-Iqna’

• A commentary on Muntaha al-Iradat

In these works, the original text and al-Buhuti’s explanation are closely connected.

By this point, centuries of opinions had been attributed to the madhab, and they needed to be sorted through. ‘Ali al-Din al-Mardawi (d. 885 AH) undertook this in al-Insaf by identifying which of the school’s several recorded positions were part of the relied-upon view, citing more than a hundred and thirty source works in the process. He followed this with a condensed treatment, al-Tanqih al-Mushbi’, which occasionally revises his own earlier conclusions.

In the centuries that followed, later scholars like Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab in Arabia and al-Ruhaybani in Egypt continued building on the work that had already been done and helped preserve the structure of the madhab.

Three Stages & the Relied-Upon Views

Because the madhab developed across nearly a millennium, determining its position on a specific question requires knowing which period a text belongs to, since the relied-upon position points to a different set of reference works depending on the era.

In the earliest period, from Imam Ahmad himself to al-Qadi Abu Ya’la (d. 458 AH), the relied-upon view is what the congregation, i.e., the close circle of his direct students, such as al-Marwazi, Salih, ‘Abdullah, and al-Khallal, related in agreement with al-Khallal’s compilation and Mukhtasar al-Khiraqi as the primary reference texts.

In the middle period, roughly from the 5th to the 8th century, the relied-upon position is where Ibn Qudama’s al-Muqni’ and Majd ad-Din Ibn Taymiyyah’s al-Muharrar agree; where they differ, scholars turn to al-Kafi, or to the position the younger Ibn Taymiyyah adopted, and beyond that to Ibn Muflih’s al-Furu’.

In the later period, from al-Mardawi onward to the present, the relied-upon position is where al-Hajjawi’s al-Iqna’ and Ibn al-Najjar’s Muntaha al-Iradat agree; where they differ, precedence goes to whichever position later scholars converged on, with Mar’i al-Karmi’s Ghayat al-Muntaha. This later body of scholarship is what the madhab relies upon today for fatawa and judicial practice.

There is also an important distinction to keep in mind when reading Hanbali texts. A riwayah is a position transmitted from Imam Ahmad, and a wajh is a position later scholars derived by extending his broader principles to questions he was not directly asked. Both are part of the madhab, but they do not mean the same thing. Knowing the difference helps explain why not every opinion found in a Hanbali text has the same level of authority.

Why Did the Hanabila Not Spread as Far as the Other Madhabs?

Geographically, the school’s early growth followed Imam Ahmad’s life and that of his students. It first took root in Baghdad, where he had lived and taught, before spreading outward to Syria, Egypt, the Qasim and Najd regions, Basra, and the Hejaz.

Some scholars were also in Palestine, specifically in al-Quds and Damascus. The Banu Qudama family were in Damascus and spread the madhab there. Outside of the ‘Arab world, there were Hanbalis in Persia, Khorasan, and Isfahan. Today, the madhab has spread across the Muslim world due to institutions.

Compared with the Hanafi, Maliki, and Shafi’i schools, the Hanbali madhab never spread as widely. This had less to do with the quality of its scholarship and more to do with history and circumstance.

One reason was Imam Ahmad’s refusal to accept government positions or stipends, and he was very adamant about this. A scholar who serves as a mufti or a qadi under state sponsorship gains both the platform and institutional continuity to see their legal positions adopted more widely. This was, in part, how the Hanafi school, for example, benefited from figures such as Qadi Abu Yusuf holding judicial office.

Imam Ahmad’s distance from state involvement meant the Hanbali school lacked this particular mechanism for far reach. On top of that, once a region’s judiciary and fatwa apparatus had already settled around a particular school, there was little practical incentive for later generations to adopt a different one; becoming a judge or a mufti generally meant working within whatever school already held institutional sway locally.

It has been suggested that the Hanbali school arrived comparatively late relative to schools that briefly enjoyed prominence before fading, such as those of al-Awza’i, al-Layth, or Sufyan al-Thawri, though this point is not strong, because the Hanbali school has outlived all of these. A more solid explanation lies in the later institutionalization of Sunni legal schools under the Seljuks and Mamluks, who formally recognized the four Sunni schools—Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali—and established institutions in support of each. This official recognition came only after the other three schools had already achieved considerable geographic spread, leaving the Hanbali school permanently positioned as the fourth rather than an equal competitor from the outset.

What the madhab lacked in geographic breadth, it made up for in value. It preserved unique opinions held by Imam Ahmad. Because Imam Ahmad was transmitting positions handed down to him from the Salaf, a considerable body of fiqh al-Salaf survives specifically within Hanbali literature. Later muhaqqiqun such as al-Nawawi and Ibn Hajar are found citing Hanbali positions because of this, showing the principle of mass preservation of opinions from the early generations.

The Madhab Today

In conclusion, what began as Imam Ahmad’s answers to the people who came to him with questions eventually became a fully developed school of Islamic law, and this is the work of centuries of students and scholars.

Even with the loss of many early works, enough has survived for the madhab to remain one of the four major schools of Sunni jurisprudence.

اللهم ارحم أئمة المذاهب وعلماء الإسلام رحمة واسعة، واغفر لهم، وارفع درجاتهم في عليين، واجزهم عن الإسلام وأهله خير الجزاء، فقد حفظوا لنا هذا الدين وبينوا لنا سنة نبيهم صلى الله عليه وسلم بأمانة وإخلاص. اللهم انفعنا بعلمهم، واجعلنا ممن يسير على نهجهم في التمسك بالكتاب والسنة، والصبر على طلب العلم، والإخلاص في نشره. اللهم اجمعنا بهم وبسائر الصالحين في جنات النعيم، واجعل ما تعلمناه منهم حجة لنا لا علينا يوم القيامة.

References:

• كتاب المدخل إلى مذهب الإمام أحمد بن حنبل

• مدخل لعلم أصول الفقه عند الحنابلة

• المدخل لمذهب الإمام أحمد

The Mihna was an attempt by the state to force scholars to publicly affirm a theological position that the vast majority of Ahl as-Sunnah held to be false, which was that the Qur’an was created. It was enforced from the top down, by the caliph al-Ma’mun himself, with severe consequences for anyone who refused: imprisonment, flogging, torture, and in some cases, death. Many scholars conformed, too frightened to speak out against it, but Imam Ahmad was among the few who never gave in.

This trial would come to define the last decades of his life, and this essay will go over the Mihna, how it came to happen, and Imam Ahmad’s role.

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The Origins of the Mu’tazila & Their Creed

To begin, we must start with the background context. As Islam spread and conquests reached farther east and west, new ideas, philosophies, and creeds entered the Muslim world, and with them came division. Some people grew occupied with disputation, and in some circles, intellectual confidence hardened into overreach: minds turning over questions about Allah’s essence and attributes as though He, exalted be He, were a subject to be reasoned about like any other. Among the movements that grew out of this climate was the Mu’tazila.

The Mu’tazila were founded by Wasil Ibn ‘Ata, who used to go to the gatherings of Hasan al-Basri. One day, Wasil came to a gathering with innovated beliefs, saying the Qur’an is created and that the one who commits a major sin such as drinking or adultery is neither a believer nor a disbeliever in this world, but is in a middle rank between the two. Hearing this, Hasan al-Basri asked people to remove him from his gathering, so the name “Mu’tazila” came from the word ‘اعتزل,’ which means to remove or withdraw.

During this time, their beliefs developed, and so did they as a movement. As the group developed, their beliefs fleshed out into more deviancy. They made their own rationalist theological principles the standard against which everything else had to be measured, including the Qur’an and Sunnah. When a verse or hadith didn’t fit the reason they had already concluded, they simply reinterpreted it until it did. Here is a brief rundown of their principles:

• Distortion of tawhid: They held that Allah’s absolute oneness meant He could not have any eternal attributes distinct from His essence. So rather than affirming attributes like knowledge, power, hearing, or speech as real qualities that He possesses, they held that Allah simply is knowing and powerful, without any separate attribute of knowledge or power existing alongside His essence. Since the Qur’an is Allah’s speech, and speech is an attribute, they concluded that speech itself must be a created act rather than an eternal quality. Hence, a created Qur’an.

• Divine justice (عدل): They held that human beings possess genuine free will and are the true creators of their own actions, not Allah. They reasoned that if Allah created human sin, it would be unjust of Him to then punish people for it, organizing their whole position around “أهل العدل والتوحيد,” the people of justice and monotheism, as their own name for themselves.

• The intermediate position (المنزلة بين المنزلتين): A Muslim who commits a major sin without repenting is neither a full believer nor a full disbeliever; they occupy a middle category of their own, though in the afterlife, if they die unrepentant, they’re treated as permanently in the Hellfire (a position closer to the Khawarij’s severity than to mainstream Ahl as-Sunnah).

• The promise and the threat (الوعد والوعيد): They believe that Allah is bound by His own promise and threat as a matter of justice. He must punish sinners and must reward the obedient, since anything else would make Him untruthful. This is part of why they denied that Allah could simply forgive a sinner who died without repenting; it followed necessarily from treating His threats as binding obligations on Himself.

• Enjoying the good and forbidding the evil (أمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر): Held as an active obligation, including (for some) justifying armed resistance against rulers seen as unjust, which is part of why the Mu’tazila also became politically significant, not just theologically.

Their doctrine at its core traced back to fringe figures like Ja’d Ibn Dirham, Jahm Ibn Safwan, and Bishr al-Marisi. It was a minority position, held by a few, and rejected by the overwhelming majority of scholars, including Malik, as-Shafi’i, and Sufyan Ibn ‘Uyayna رحمهم الله, who all affirmed that the Qur’an, i.e., the speech of Allah, is uncreated and eternal. What changed this, however, was a caliph.

The Belief of Ahl as-Sunnah

Now that we have read the beliefs of the Mu’tazila, it is important that we reiterate and clarify what the position of Ahl as-Sunnah is on this issue, showing what Imam Ahmad embodied.

Ahl as-Sunnah believes that the Qur’an is the literal speech of Allah. It is not a created thing, nor is it a symbol of His speech, and it is not something brought into being the way the rest of creation was. This is what the Prophet ﷺ, the Sahaba, and the rest of the Salaf believed and understood, without needing to argue for it, because this discussion of created or uncreated had never occurred to them as something requiring resolution in the first place.

The Mu’tazila’s argument rested on this chain of reasoning: if the Qur’an is Allah’s speech, and speech is an attribute, and Allah’s absolute oneness (as they understood it) couldn’t accommodate any eternal attribute distinct from His essence, then the Qur’an had to be something Allah created. Ahl as-Sunnah rejects this completely, and we seek refuge in Allah from this belief.

Allah’s attributes, including His speech, are affirmed exactly as revealed, without being reinterpreted to fit a prior philosophical conclusion about what divine unity must mean. To call the Qur’an created is an act of disbelief.

This is the position Imam Ahmad held, without deviation, long before the Mihna began and up until his death. It is the position that the state would try to force him to abandon.

This is an important note to mention. The speech of Allah is uncreated and eternal. However, in terms of the physical Qur’an, the sounds and movements involved in human recitation? Scholars of Ahl as-Sunnah, most precisely Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, later clarified this, saying that the actions of the servant (the voice, vocal movements, and paper) are created, since Allah creates all things, including the actions of His servants. This distinction and wording are necessary to clarify.

Al-Ma’mun & The Turn Toward Compulsion

During this time, the caliph was al-Ma’mun, who had long been drawn to the philosophical texts translated into Arabic during his reign, and the Mu’tazila, sensing an opportunity, drew close to him, earning his admiration for their eloquence and intellect, gradually winning him over to their theology. After he first declared publicly that the Qur’an was created, it caused unrest, but for a time, he didn’t force the position on anyone else.

This ended in 218 AH. Al-Ma’mun ordered the scholars of the Ummah to be compelled to affirm that the Qur’an was created, despite the fact that virtually none of the era’s actual scholars held that view. His letter to Ishaq Ibn Ibrahim, governor of Baghdad, framed the ordinary masses as dangerously ignorant, easily misled by scholars who falsely claimed to represent the Sunnah while elevating the Qur’an to the level of Allah Himself by calling it eternal. Judges and hadith scholars were to be tested, and anyone who refused to affirm the createdness position would have their testimony invalidated.

A first group of seven scholars was summoned, and under the letter’s pressure, complied. Seeing this work, al-Ma’mun escalated. A second, harsher letter ordered a far wider test. Ishaq Ibn Ibrahim assembled a substantial group of fuqaha and muhaddithun, including Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, read the caliph’s letter, and pressed each of them for an answer. One by one, they gave in.

By the end, only four men remained standing against the entire weight of the state: Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Sajjada, al-Qawariri, and Muhammad Ibn Nuh al-Madrub. All four were then shackled in iron. The same test was repeated the next day, and Sajjada relented. Then the next day, al-Qawariri relented. Only Imam Ahmad and Muhammad Ibn Nuh held their ground through both rounds. The two of them were bound together and sent toward Tarsus to be held until al-Ma’mun returned from a military campaign against Byzantine territory.

Al-Ma’mun’s Death & The Continuation of the Mihna

Al-Ma’mun died only shortly after the Mihna started. He left it, along with its chief architect Ibn Abi Du’ad, to his brother and successor, al-Mu’tasim, and he continued what he inherited.

Here, under al-Mu’tasim’s rule, is where Imam Ahmad’s ordeal reached its harshest point. For about two and a half years, he was imprisoned, repeatedly brought before the caliph in chains, and pressed again and again to say that the Qur’an was created, but he never said it. His own uncle came to visit and urged him to say the words under compulsion, saying that he would have a valid excuse before Allah under it. But Imam Ahmad still refused, citing the hadith of Khabbab, that some before them had been sawed in half and still hadn’t abandoned their faith.

He was eventually brought before al-Mu’tasim directly, still in chains, and was asked again to affirm their doctrine, but he asked in return:

فقلت: إلامَ دعا اللهُ ورسولُه؟. فسكت هنيهة، ثمَّ قال: إلى شهادة أن لا إله إلا الله. فقلت: فأنا أشهد أن لا إله إلا اللّٰه.

ثمَّ قلت: إنَّ جدَّك ابن عبَّاس يقول: لمَّا قَدِم وفد عبدِ القيس على رسول الله ﷺ سألوه عن الإيمان، فقال: «أتدرون ما الإيمانُ؟» قالوا: الله ورسولُه أعلم، قال: «شهادة أن لا إله إلا اللّٰه وأنَّ محمَّداً رسول الله، وإقام الصَّلاة، وإيتاء الزَّكاة، وأن تعطوا الخمسَ من المغنم».

I asked, “What had Allah and His Messenger ﷺ called people to?” He remained silent for a brief moment, then said, ‘To the testimony that there is no god but Allah.’ I replied, “Then I bear witness that there is no god but Allah.”

Then I said, “Your grandfather Ibn ‘Abbas relates that when the delegation of ‘Abd al-Qays came to the Messenger of Allah and asked him about faith, he said, ‘Do you know what faith is?’ They replied, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘It is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, the establishment of prayer, the giving of zakat, and the surrendering of one-fifth of the spoils of war.’”

On days when it was extremely hot, and there wasn’t enough water for other prisoners, he wouldn’t drink. He was beaten, his body worn down by imprisonment, and tortured. He was held for roughly 28 months in total, and when released, he was in poor physical health, so much so that a doctor had to remove dead flesh from his body afterward.

What he endured shaped how he treated those who hadn’t. He held that anyone who affirmed the Qur’an’s createdness, even under pressure, was no longer someone whose hadith could be trusted or transmitted. He refused to narrate from those who had complied, however respected they’d once been, and didn’t attend the funeral prayer of at least one who had given in. Even old friendships weren’t spared. When Yahya Ibn Ma’in—who was his companion of many years—came to visit him during an illness, Imam Ahmad turned his back and wouldn’t speak to him. This just shows that he held the same standard towards other scholars as he held for himself.

The End of the Mihna

After al-Mu’tasim’s death, his son and successor, al-Wathiq, inherited the trial, and Ibn Abi Du’ad pressed him to continue it. However, this time, wary of provoking the public who had grown tense, al-Wathiq did not imprison Imam Ahmad again. Instead, he ordered him not to remain in any place. So Imam Ahmad spent the rest of al-Wathiq’s reign moving from place to place in hiding, until the caliph’s death finally brought that chapter to a close.

The Mihna ended for good under al-Mutawakkil, the next caliph after al-Wathiq, roughly fifteen years after it began. He reversed everything, restoring the freedom and standing of the muhaddithun. Imam Ahmad, still reluctant, was eventually brought before him; it was said largely at the urging of al-Mutawakkil’s mother, who saw in him a man with no interest in worldly position and asked her son to send him home rather than entangle him further.

Al-Mutawakkil personally clothed him in a robe of honor. Imam Ahmad, physically weakened by then, accepted it, and later had it sold, giving the proceeds to the poor rather than keep it for himself. Here are a few statements from his contemporaries afterwards:

‘Ali Ibn al-Madini:

إنَّ اللّٰه أعزَّ هذا الدِّين برجلين ليس لهما ثالث: أبو بكر الصِّديق يومَ الرِّدَّة، وأحمدُ بن حنبل يومَ المحنة

“Allah honored this religion through two men, with no third: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq on the day of Apostasy, and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal on the day of the Mihna.”

Abu ‘Ubayd al-Qasim Ibn Sallam:

صدق ، إن أبا بكر الصديق وجد يوم الردة أنصارا وأعوانا وإن أحمد بن حنبل لم يكن له أنصار ولا أعوان . ثم أخذ أبو عبيد يطري أحمد ويقول : لست أعلم في الإسلام مثله

“Indeed, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq found supporters and allies during the Day of Apostasy, whereas Ahmad ibn Hanbal had neither supporters nor allies. Abu ‘Ubayd then began to praise Ahmad, saying, ‘I know of no one like him in Islam.’”

Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh:

لولا أحمد بن حنبل وبذلُ نفسه لِما بذلها له، لذهب الإسلام

“If not for Ahmad Ibn Hanbal giving himself the way he did, Islam would have been lost.”

Ibn Hibban:

أغاث اللّٰه بأحمدَ أمَّة محمَّد ﷺ، وذلك أنَّه ثبت في المحنة، وبذل نفسَه لله، حتَّى ضُرِب بالسِّياط للقتل، فعصمه اللهُ تعالى عن الكفرِ، وجعله عَلَماً يُقتدى به، ومَلْجأَ يُلجأ إليه

“Through Ahmad, Allah brought relief to the nation of Muhammad ﷺ, for he stood firm in the trial and gave himself for Allah’s sake, even beaten with whips nearly to death, so Allah protected him from disbelief and made him a landmark to be followed and a refuge for people to turn to.”

Imam Ahmad’s Death

Imam Ahmad lived roughly a decade beyond the Mihna’s end, his standing by then unmatched anywhere in the Muslim world. He died in Baghdad on a Friday, the 12th of Rabi’ al-Awwal, 241 AH, in the same city where he’d been born, studied, imprisoned, and vindicated, at the age of 74/75.

By multiple accounts, his funeral was attended by roughly 700,000, up to reported estimates in the millions, with al-Mutawakkil said to have had the ground where mourners stood measured afterward. Multiple independent narrators agreed on the same thing: that nothing like it had been seen before. Hundreds of thousands of mourners filled the streets of Baghdad to bid farewell to a man who had spent his entire life avoiding public attention, refusing gifts, refusing positions, refusing to let his own legal opinions be written down as though they carried independent authority.

His funeral was a true testament to show that what drew people to him was how harshly he was tested and how he hadn’t bent from the position of Ahl as-Sunnah. His grave is located in Ar-Rusafa District.

اللهم ارحم إمامنا أحمد بن حنبل رحمة واسعة، واغفر له، وارفع درجته في عليين، وأسكنه فسيح جناتك مع الذين أنعمت عليهم من النبيين والصديقين والشهداء والصالحين. اللهم كما ثبته على الحق في أشد المحن، فأثبه خير ما أثبت عبادك الصابرين، واجزه عن الإسلام وأهله خير الجزاء. اللهم انفعنا بعلمه، واجعلنا ممن يسير على نهجه في التمسك بالسنة والصبر على الحق، واجمعنا به في جنات النعيم.

We ask, O Allah, to have mercy on our Imam, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, a vast and encompassing mercy, and forgive him, raise his rank among the highest of the elevated, and settle him in the wide expanse of Your Paradise, among those You have favored; the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous. O Allah, just as You made him firm upon the truth in the harshest of trials, reward him with the best of what You reward Your patient servants, and repay him on behalf of Islam and its people with the finest reward. O Allah, benefit us through his knowledge, and make us among those who follow his path in holding fast to the Sunnah and enduring for the sake of truth, and gather us together with him in the gardens of everlasting bliss.

References:

• المدخل إلى مذهب الإمام أحمد بن حنبل

• اعتقاد الإمام المنبل أحمد بن حنبل

• سير أئمة المذاهب

I have wanted to write about Imam Ahmad for quite some time now, coupled with writing about the history of the Hanbali madhab, because together, they set the foundation for understanding the madhab as a whole. For those beginning to study the Hanbali madhab, familiarity with Imam Ahmad is a natural first step. Knowing who he is sets the grounds for understanding the madhab and its formation, as well as Imam Ahmad’s methodology. Beyond that, there is immense value in engaging with who Imam Ahmad was–an imam of Ahl as-Sunnah wal-Jam’ah who dedicated his life to the religion.

This will be a series sharing who Imam Ahmad was, how the Hanbali madhab was formed, and how to study it well.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

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His Life, Lineage, & Livelihood

Imam Ahmad was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in the Islamic month of Rabi-ul-Awwal, 164 AH (780 AD). His full name is Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Hanbal Abu Abdullah al-Shaybani. His grandfather, Hanbal, was the governor of Sarakhs during the Umayyad period, and his father Muhammad was a soldier in the Abbasid army in Khurasan. His mother was Safiya bint Maymuna, who was also from the tribe of Shayban.

Imam Ahmad’s lineage is traced back through Banu Shayban, a tribe known for courage and chivalry. Through his tribe, Imam Ahmad’s ancestry coincides with the Prophet’s ﷺ lineage at Nizar Ibn Ma’ad Ibn Adnan. Yahya Ibn Ma’in, who knew him well, said he never once heard Imam Ahmad boast of his Arab descent or even mention it. When a companion once remarked that he’d heard Imam Ahmad came from noble Arab lineage, he brushed past it, saying, “We are simple people.”

Unfortunately, his grandfather died before he was born, and his father died at the age of thirty, when Imam Ahmad was only three. His mother raised him alone, forcing him to be self-reliant and resilient for the rest of his life. Throughout his adolescence, his character was already visible to those around him. At the local scribal school, women in the neighborhood would specifically request that he be sent to write their letters, trusting him with their words. It was an early sign of something that would deepen with time.

Later on in his life, he did not marry until he was around forty. He had two wives and eight children, though it is his sons Salih and ‘Abdullah who carried his legacy forward most directly, both becoming transmitters of knowledge and scholars in their own right, whose students would go on to preserve and pass down what their father had taught them.

What little he inherited, he treated with the same scrupulousness he brought to everything else. He measured his own home to be certain he was paying exactly the tax owed on it, and when that inheritance wasn’t enough to support his household, he didn’t hesitate to do whatever honest work was available to him: gleaning leftover grain missed by harvesters, copying manuscripts for pay, weaving straps to sell in the market. He would accept help from no one if it meant being indebted to them. It was, in his own words to those who offered him charity instead, better to work and keep one’s dignity than to ever need to ask.

His Path to Seeking Knowledge: Becoming a Muhaddith

Imam Ahmad’s dedicated pursuit of knowledge began when he started studying the traditions of hadith around the age of sixteen. He attached himself to the scholar Hushaym Ibn Bashir and remained with him for nearly four years until Hushaym’s death. Seeking to learn from the great masters of his day, he traveled to the cities of Kufa and Basra in Iraq, to Mecca, the Hejaz, Medina, Yemen, and Syria. He made five pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca, three times on foot. Because of this, he was the most well-traveled of the four imams and met the largest number of scholars.

The scale of what he retained from these travels is immense. Abu Zur’a al-Razi once tested Imam Ahmad’s memory against a full review of hadith and concluded he knew a million of them by heart. ‘Ali Ibn al-Madini, one of the scholars of the era, said that among their whole circle, no one could match him. He achieved mastery in other branches of knowledge, including tafsir and history. And when Imam Ahmad died, his personal library filled twelve camel-loads.

He had many teachers throughout his life, including some of the most prominent scholars of his time. Those being: Qadi Imam Abu Yusuf, Imam as-Shafi’i, Hushaim Bin Basheer, Ibrahim Ibn Sa’ad, Sufyan Ibn ‘Uyayna, ‘Abbad Ibn ‘Abbad, and Yahya Ibn Abi Zaidah were some of the other scholars from whom Imam Ahmad learned hadith, and many other scholars in different parts of the world.

His teachers played a crucial role in shaping his education and intellectual development. Their teachings and guidance helped him become one of the most prominent scholars of his time and a leading figure in the development of the Hanbali school and thought, formulating his discipline to study and compile narrations. This devotion eventually took written form in his most prominent work, the Musnad: a vast collection organized around the individual companions who transmitted each hadith rather than by legal topic.

When his son ‘Abdullah asked why he’d resisted compiling written books his whole life yet made an exception for this one, Imam Ahmad replied by saying that he’d built it as a reference, so that when people disagreed about what the Prophet ﷺ actually said, they would have somewhere reliable to return to. Imam Ahmad insisted on narrating hadith only from written text, even though his own recall was, by every account, impeccable, and he held his students to the same standard, warning them that memory alone leaves too much room for error. How interesting is it that a man who had incredible memory still didn’t trust it as a foundation for anything as serious as the words of the Prophet ﷺ.

However, he trusted his written collections. Once, while staying in Mecca, he was robbed of his belongings. When his host broke the news, Imam Ahmad’s first question was about his papers. Everything else could be replaced, but what he’d written down from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ could not. This is why it is fitting that Imam Ahmad held those who devoted themselves to this same work in the highest regard.

His Fiqh & Methodology

Some scholars claimed that Imam Ahmad was only a muhaddith (scholar of hadith) and not a faqih (a jurist), and that he should not have been considered the fourth after the first three imams because of the issues that happened during his lifetime. However, his life and works show that he is absolutely deserving of that title.

Most of the way fiqh is compiled was through their students asking them questions, writing them down, and then codifying them. Other than Imam ash-Shafi’i, none of the four imams actually wrote their own fiqh. Even for Imam Malik, he wrote his Muwatta, but his fiqh is narrated from him in the form of questions asked by his students. Over the course of his life, Imam Ahmad was asked and answered thousands of legal questions, giving rulings and fatawa, drawing from the Qur’an and Sunnah, the practice of the Companions, the Salaf, and his own ijtihad, only using qiyas (analogical reasoning) when nothing else was able to be applied. ‘Abd al-Razzaq, one of the great hadith scholars of the age, said he’d never seen anyone more capable in fiqh, nor more scrupulous. Abu ‘Ubayd, surveying the four most learned men of the era, ranked Imam Ahmad first in jurisprudence among them.

When he was younger and spent time in Mecca, he had the chance to sit in the gathering of Ibn ‘Uyayna, who was already a well-established authority, but instead chose to sit with the young scholar, Muhammad Ibn Idris as-Shafi’i. When someone was confused as to why Imam Ahmad gave up that opportunity, Imam Ahmad said that a missed hadith with a short chain of transmission could always be recovered elsewhere, through some other teacher, but he wasn’t sure that he’d get another chance to learn from a mind like Imam as-Shafi’i, as he’d never seen anyone more capable of understanding the Book of Allah than him.

This approach was summed up in a principle that later scholars would draw out of his rulings, which is strict adherence to the text in matters of worship, and openness in matters of transaction, until a text explicitly forbids it. One of the aspects of his methodology was not to have any room for opinion (رَأْي) or personal preference unless there was a necessity. As Imam Ahmad said, “Do not make a statement about an issue unless you have an imam therein.” This doesn’t mean that derivation or analysis is not possible, but rather encourages the full scale of induction of the evidence before giving an opinion.

One of the principles of the Hanbali madhab is that it gives precedence to the Sunnah without denying that there are things that should be understood and derived from the texts of Islam, and this gave the madhab a leg up in the sheer number of evidence that it collected. This will be expanded on in the series.

An Imam in Every Field

Imam as-Shafi’i, in one of the most repeated assessments of Imam Ahmad’s stature, once called him an imam in eight distinct fields: Qur’an, Sunnah, hadith, fiqh, asceticism, poverty, cautious piety, and the Arabic language.

Imam Ahmad had numerous writings other than Musnad Ahmad. These include:

• كتاب فضائل الصحابة

• كتاب الأشربة

• كتاب الورع

• الرد على الزنادقة و الجهمية

• أصول السنة

• كتاب الزهد

• علل الحديث ومعرفة الرجال

• كتاب الصلاة

• أحكام النساء

• رسالة أحمد إلى مسَدَّد بن مُسَرْهَد

• المقدم والمؤخر في كتاب الله

Everything that he is an imam in came together before and after the years that followed one of the most defining parts of his life, which was the Mihna. This was when the state tried to force scholars to publicly affirm that the Qur’an was created, and Imam Ahmad refused. He was among the only scholars who defended the religion against the caliph at the time, al-Ma’mun. This trial, what led to it, and what it cost him will have its own essay as the next piece in this series.

In His Contemporaries’ Words

It’s worth ending on this note, for now, with how his contemporaries spoke of him.

Imam as-Shafi’i said:

خرجتُ من العراق؛ فما خلَّفتُ بالعراق رجلاً أفضلَ ولا أعلمَ ولا أتقى من أحمدَ بن حنبل

“I left Iraq, and I left behind no man in Iraq more excellent, more knowledgeable, or more God-fearing than Ahmad Ibn Hanbal.”

Yahya Ibn Ma’in:

أراد الناس منَّا أن نكون مثل أحمد بن حنبل! لا والله، ما نقوى على ما يقوى عليه أحمد بن حنبل، ولا على طريقة أحمد بن حنبل

“People wanted us to be like Ahmad Ibn Hanbal! No, by Allah, we cannot bear what Ahmad Ibn Hanbal could bear, nor follow the path he followed.”

Ibn Hibban:

كان حافظاً متقناً فقيهاً، ملازماً للورع الخفيِّ، مواظباً على العبادة الدَّائمة، أغاث الله به أمَّة محمَّد ﷺ؛ وذلك أنَّه ثبت في المحنة، وبذل نفسه لله، فعصمه الله تعالى، وجعله عَلَماً يقتدى به، وملجأً يلجأ إليه

“He was a precise, masterful memorizer of hadith and a jurist, devoted to hidden piety, constant in worship. Through him Allah brought relief to the nation of Muhammad ﷺ, for he stood firm in the trial and gave himself for Allah’s sake, so Allah protected him and made him a landmark to be followed and a refuge for people to turn to.”

Imam ad-Dhahabi:

شيخُ الإسلام، وسيِّد المسلمين في عصره، الحافظ الحُجَّة، كان إماماً في الحديث وضروبه، إماماً في السُّنَّة وطرائقها، إماماً في الورع وغوامضه، إماماً في الزُّهد وحقائقه

“The Shaykh of Islam, master of the Muslims of his time, the authoritative hadith memorizer, an imam in hadith and its branches, an imam in the Sunnah and its ways, an imam in piety and its subtleties, an imam in asceticism and its realities.”

By every measure available to us, Imam Ahmad was one of the most respected scholars of his era; this is still true today.

References:

• المدخل إلى مذهب الإمام أحمد بن حنبل

• اعتقاد الإمام المنبل أحمد بن حنبل

• سير أئمة المذاهب

This is an effort to clarify and untangle the definitions and applications of these terms. Each describes a distinct relationship between a person and a ruling, and which one applies to you depends on specifics.

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Definitions & Three Different Relationships to a Ruling

Ijtihad (اجتهاد) is the exertion of a qualified scholar’s full effort to derive a ruling directly from the Qur’an and Sunnah. The word itself comes from the same root as jihad (ج - ه - د). It is not something a person does casually or occasionally on the side; it presupposes years of jurisprudential skill, knowledge through memorization and understanding across the Islamic sciences such as usul al-fiqh and being able to apply it, grammar and the Arabic language, knowing the legal evidence from the Qur’an, Sunnah, the Companions’ opinions, and consensus (إجماع), causes of revelation (أسباب النزول), and being able to distinguish matters of consensus so they do not exercise ijtihad where consensus exists and thereby depart from it. A mujtahid is someone who has done the work to stand in front of the primary texts and extract a ruling with their own tools.

Taqlid (تقليد) is adopting a position without knowing its evidence. It is accepting someone else’s ruling without examining the evidence behind it, because you are not in a position to examine it. This is the part that gets caricatured as “blind following,” and admittedly, the word is used that way in ordinary Arabic: taqlid shares a root with the word for a collar or a leash, qildah (ق-ل-د), the sense of being led. But in the technical, legal use of the term that concerns us here, taqlid isn’t about switching off your brain, but rather an acknowledgment of where our understanding as laymen ends.

Ittiba’ (الاتباع) is following and accepting a ruling along with its evidence. If a scholar tells you the ruling on a matter and also walks you through the evidence behind it, and you now hold that position because you find the evidence sound, you are doing ittiba’.

Two Kinds of Knowledge

Now that the definitions are clarified, it’s worth mentioning the distinction that gets flattened in many online discussions. Not everything in the religion is a matter of taqlid to begin with.

Imam Ibn Qudamah draws this line clearly. He explains that the claim “taqlid is not permissible” applies specifically to self-evident matters established without needing effort, reflection, or investigation:

وإنما الذي قيل إنه لا يجوز لهم التقليد هو الأمر الظاهر الذي قد علموه لظهوره من غير احتياج إلى تعب ولا فكر ولا نظر، كتوحيد الله سبحانه وتعالى، ورسالة محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم، ومعرفة وجوب الصلوات الخمس وصوم رمضان وسائر الأركان التي اشتهر وجوبها وعلم ذلك بالإجماع عليها، فلا يحتاج فيه إلى بحث ولا نظر، فهذا لا يجوز تقليدهم فيه. وأما دقائق الاعتقادات وتفاصيل أحكام العبادات والبياعات، فما يقول بوجوب اجتهادهم فيها إلا جاهل، وهو باطل بما ذكرناه.

“What is meant by saying taqlid is impermissible for them is only the self-evident matter, which they already know by its own clarity, without needing effort, reflection, or investigation, such as the oneness of Allah, the messengership of Muhammad ﷺ, and the obligation of the five prayers, the fast of Ramadan, and the rest of the well-known pillars whose obligation is established by consensus. This needs no research or reflection, so taqlid is not applicable to it. As for the finer points of belief and the details of the rulings of worship and transactions, none but an ignorant person would claim that laypeople are obligated to exercise ijtihad regarding them, and this is false, for the reasons we have mentioned.” 1

Simply put, the core of the religion–tawhid, pillars of Islam, fasting–isn’t something anyone does taqlid in because these are known by necessity (معلوم من الدين بالضرورة), because it has been transmitted so widely and consistently that no ordinary Muslim needs a scholar’s derivation to establish it. Taqlid enters the picture when it comes to the details (تفصيل), such as how a transaction is structured, what invalidates an act of worship, where to place your hands in prayer, matters of inheritance, and others. These are the matters that require weighing evidence, not in the foundations of the religion, that the layperson defers.

The Levels of a Mujtahid & a Muqallid, & What Blind Following Is

A common misconception that circulates is the idea that Salafis are anti-taqlid in every sense and that rejecting taqlid altogether is somehow the more authentic, evidence-based position. But this is incorrect.

What is rejected is blind partisanship for a particular scholar or madhab (تعصب), defending its positions out of loyalty rather than evidence, even when the evidence points elsewhere. Taqlid itself, in the sense of a layperson relying on someone qualified, is not what should be objected to but is the reality of anyone who hasn’t reached the level of ijtihad. Shaykh Muhammad Bajabir says:

هنا أنبه إلى قضية التفريق بين التمذهب وبين التقليد، والتمذهب والتعصب. وهذه ثلاثة مختلفة. أما التقليد فالله سبحانه وتعالى أرشد من لا يعلم، قال فاسألوا أهل الذكر إن كنتم لا تعلمون. وأما التمذهب أن يدرس مذهبا كاملا من أوله إلى آخره، وهذا يكون الأول والثاني في حق غير العالم المجتهد. هذا يكون في البدايات. فطريق المبتدئ ما هو؟ طريق المبتدئ التقليد، ليس له إلا التقليد. والتقليد قد يكون تقليد لمذهب وقد يكون تقليد لشيخ، وقد يكون تقليد في فتوى واحدة. لكن لن يكون لطالب العلم المبتدئ قدرة على الاجتهاد من البداية. هذا ضرب من المستحيل. ومن ظن أنه يستطيع أن يفعل ذلك، فهو يتوهم خيالا، وليس حقيقة. هذه ليست الحقيقة. لكن إذا طلب العلم في الابتداء سيكون مقلد، ثم بعد ذلك يطلب العلم، ويحصل علوم أخرى كثيرة. لا يكفي الفقه فقط. هناك علوم كثيرة لا بد من تحصيلها وإتقانها. فإذا حصل هذه العلوم ارتقى إلى درجة يستطيع أن يرجح بين كلام أهل العلم، وقد لا يصل إلى هذه المرتبة. هذه منزلة عالية، ينالها من شرفه الله واختار له هذه الفضيلة. لكن هذا هو الطريق. من أراد أن يصل إلى هذه المرتبة، لا بد أن يسلك الطريق من أوله، ولا بد أن يأتي البيوت من أبوابها. ولا نقول أنه يجب على الناس أن يتمذهبوا بمذهب معين وأن يلتزموه، كالتزام الكتاب والسنة لا يخرج عنه. هذا الكلام غير صحيح. لكن في نفس الوقت لا نقول إن دين الله تبارك وتعالى ينبغي أن يكون عبثا وكلأ مباحا يجر عليه كل أحد، ويتكلم فيه كل أحد. هذا أيضا لا يجوز. فإن الله أرشد غير العالم وأرشد الجاهل إلى سؤال أهل العلم، ولم يرشدهم إلى أن يرجعوا إلى الكتاب أو السنة ويجتهدوا كما يريدون وأن يعبثوا كما يشاءون. لأن كلام الرجل في الفن الذي لا يحسنه، لا شك أنه ضرب من الفساد، ولا شك أنه جهل، ولا شك أنه قول على الله تعالى بغير علم.

“Here I would like to draw attention to an important distinction between following a madhab, following qualified scholarship, and partisanship or blind fanaticism. These are the three distinct matters. As for taqlid, Allah the Exalted directed those who do not possess knowledge when He said,

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

As for following a madhab, it means studying an entire school of jurisprudence from beginning to end. Both taqlid and studying a madhab apply to the one who is not a scholarly mujtahid. This is the proper path at the beginning of one’s studies. So what is the path of the beginner?

The beginner’s path is taqlid. He has no alternative but taqlid. This taqlid may be following a madhab, following a particular scholar, or following someone in a single legal verdict (fatwa). However, a beginner in the pursuit of knowledge will not possess the ability to perform independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) from the outset. Such an expectation is, in reality, impossible.

Whoever imagines that he can do so is merely entertaining an illusion rather than dealing with reality. That is simply not how things are. Rather, when a person begins seeking knowledge, he starts as a muqallid (one who follows qualified scholarship). Then he continues studying and acquires many other sciences. Fiqh alone is not sufficient. There are numerous other disciplines that must be learned and mastered. Once he has acquired these sciences, he may advance to a level where he is capable of weighing and preferring one scholarly opinion over another. Yet he may never even reach that rank. It is a lofty station attained by only those whom Allah honors and chooses for this virtue.

Nevertheless, this is the proper path. Whoever wishes to attain such a rank must travel the road from its very beginning, and he must enter houses through their proper doors. At the same time, we do not say that people are obligated to bind themselves permanently to a particular madhab as they are bound to the Qur’an and Sunnah, never departing from it.

But likewise, we do not say that the religion of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, should become something neglected and open to anyone to handle however they wish, so that every person may speak about it and issue judgements concerning it. That too is impermissible.

Indeed, Allah directed those who lack knowledge–the ignorant–to ask the people of knowledge. He did not direct them to return independently to the Qur’an and Sunnah, performing ijtihad according to their own desires or treating the religion however they please. For when a person speaks about a discipline in which he has no expertise, it is undoubtedly a form of corruption, ignorance, and speaking about Allah without knowledge.” 2

The main point of this to understand is that unless you are a scholar, you are a muqallid. This is the category for someone who cannot do ijtihad. Here, it is a clarification of the misconception that being obligated to do taqlid means being obligated to formally attach yourself to one of the 4 schools of thought (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, or Hanbali) and never step out of it. This is a false understanding. A madhab exposes us to a larger range of imams and their positions, which is a benefit for the Muslims. But what is asked of the layperson is to follow someone who is qualified. A layperson asking a trustworthy, qualified scholar a question and acting on the answer has fulfilled what’s asked of them.

This is where levels matter amongst people. A mujtahid mutlaq (an absolute mujtahid, of the caliber of the founding imams) derives rulings directly from the sources using their own independently built methodology. A mujtahid madhabi operates within an established school, capable of weighing (ترجيح) between positions transmitted within that school’s own framework. And then there is everyone else: the muqallid, who has neither.

Even within these broad categories, there are ranks. A muqallid who has studied for years, can read the primary Arabic, and genuinely follows a scholar’s reasoning sits at a much higher rank than a muqallid with no Arabic at all, who cannot engage the texts even secondhand, so much so that the highest ranks of muqallids sit close to the lowest ranks of mujtahids. Being a muqallid, in other words, is not a single undifferentiated state.

Weighing evidence between scholarly opinions is not a task for a first-year student of Islamic studies, or even an undergraduate student who has completed a degree in the subject. Very few people in any era reach that level. Someone who has merely surveyed the opinions and their proofs, without the tools to adjudicate between them, and then declares one position “the strongest” is, in reality, still doing a form of taqlid or ittiba’, not ijtihad, regardless of how much reading went into it. As Shaykh Amir Bahjat quoted in his lectures on التأهيل الفقهي from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah:

أكثرُ ما يُفسدُ الدنيا: نِصفُ مُتكلِّمٍ، ونِصفُ مُتفقِّهٍ، ونِصفُ مُتطبِّبٍ، ونِصفُ نَحويٍّ؛ هذا يُفسدُ الأديانَ، وهذا يُفسدُ البُلدانَ، وهذا يُفسدُ الأبدانَ، وهذا يُفسدُ اللِّسانَ.

Some scholars have said: “What corrupts the world more than anything else is a half theologian, a half jurist, a half physician, and a half grammarian. The first corrupts religions, the second corrupts lands, the third corrupts bodies, and the fourth corrupts language.” 3

Partial knowledge, mistaken for complete competence, does more damage than no knowledge at all, because it comes dressed as authority. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah states what a muqallid’s position consists of:

لا يجوز لأحد أن يرجح قولا على قول بغير دليل، ولا يتعصب لقول على قول ولا قائل على قائل بغير حجة؛ بل من كان مقلدا لزم حكم التقليد، فلم يرجح، ولم يزيف، ولم يصوب، ولم يخطئ

“It is not permissible for anyone to give preference to one saying over another without evidence, nor to be fanatically partisan for one saying over another, or one speaker over another, without proof. Rather, whoever is a muqallid is bound by the ruling of taqlid: he does not weigh positions against each other, does not declare one false, does not declare one correct, and does not declare one mistaken.” 4

Deferring Is Not The Same As Disengaging

There is much weight placed in relying on people of knowledge. Ibn Taymiyyah also addresses this and gives his reasoning:

لكن لما كان من الأحكام ما لا يعرفه كثير من الناس رجع الناس في ذلك إلى من يعلمهم ذلك؛ لأنه أعلم بما قاله الرسول وأعلم بمراده

“But since there are rulings that many people simply do not know, people turn in such matters to those who can teach them because that person has greater knowledge of what the Messenger ﷺ said, and better understands what he meant.” 5

Understanding precisely what was said and what was meant is its own discipline, and we should not treat the opinions of untrained individuals as authoritative.

He [Ibn Taymiyyah] also mentions an analogy for how sincere, qualified scholars can differ and still both be religiously sound:

العلماء ورثة الأنبياء واجتهاد العلماء في الأحكام كاجتهاد المستدلين على جهة الكعبة؛ فإذا صلى أربعة أنفس كل واحد منهم بطائفة إلى أربع جهات لاعتقادهم أن القبلة هناك: فإن صلاة الأربعة صحيحة والذي صلى إلى جهة الكعبة واحد وهو المصيب الذي له أجران

“The scholars are the heirs of the prophets, and the ijtihad of scholars in matters of rulings is like the ijtihad of those trying to determine the direction of the Ka’bah [without being able to see it]. If four people each pray facing a different direction, each believing the qiblah lies that way, the prayer of all four is valid, though only the one who actually faced the Ka’bah is correct, and it is he who receives two rewards.” 6

This is important to note: the madhahibs we have are paths to the truth and represent qualified attempts to do so.

An Obligatory Part of Our Religion

Allah says in Surah al-Hijr,

وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ

“And worship your Lord until certainty comes to you.” [15:99]

This verse is the foundation for this system of deference to scholarly authority.

Islam does not obligate every individual to have a personal, unmediated relationship with legal derivation but instead to have that relationship with worship, intention, and accountability. But when it comes to rulings, questions, and answers, these are issues with textual evidence behind them, weighed against centuries of counter-evidence, exceptions, and competing narrations. This expertise is not meant to be treated as optional.

This is also, in practice, how the religion has protected itself from fragmenting into as many “sects” as there are individuals with an opinion and a translation of the Qur’an. The scholarly apparatus, ijtihad for the qualified, taqlid and ittiba’ for everyone else, has kept the transmission of rulings disciplined and traceable back to evidence, generation after generation, instead of dissolving into whatever each person happens to feel the text means. The humility of taqlid is the same humility every complex, cumulative field of knowledge has, and what makes sincerity possible to act on correctly.

Understanding One’s Station

To summarize, none of these terms designate a rank to be claimed or a status to be performed; rather, each denotes a person’s actual position relative to the evidence, and the correct thing to do is to locate yourself accurately within that framework instead of assuming a station one has not earned.

Even the layperson who insists that they “just follow the Qur’an and Sunnah” is still relying on someone to tell them what the Qur’an and Sunnah say and how it’s meant to be understood. Side point: we all follow the Qur’an and Sunnah, and the scholars use the Qur’an and Sunnah when deriving their rulings. But for almost everyone, this means taqlid of someone qualified, moving toward ittiba’ as your own understanding deepens, but not mistaking it for ijtihad or tarjih.

May Allah allow us to remember our station, follow the path of those who dedicated themselves to this religion to preserve it, and deepen our understanding and knowledge.

Shaykha Kamila al-Kuwari حفظها الله is a contemporary scholar who has devoted herself to teaching the religion, the Hanbali tradition in particular, and other sciences, producing works of commentary and explanation that serve both the madhab and students who wish to study the religion seriously. After going through some of her works, it’s important to showcase who she is, what she has contributed, and why her work deserves a place in the reading life of every student of knowledge.

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Her Biography, Works, & Contributions

The first time I was introduced to Shaykha Kamila al-Kuwari was through Ustadha Umm Hassan حفظها الله وبارك فيها when she was highlighting female scholars of the 21st century in a previous dars regarding the methodology and manners for female seekers of knowledge (منهجية واداب لطالبات العلم), and shared her biography.

Her full name is Kamila Bint Muhammad Bin Jassim Bin Ali al-Jaham al-Kuwari, and she was born and raised in Doha, Qatar. She completed her memorization of the Qur’an at a young age and stated in an interview that her parents were a big influence on her because of their encouragement to seek knowledge and memorize the Qur’an, becoming beloved to her in her youth, and pursuing it further.

Kamila is nicknamed “خادمة العلم الشريف,” which means a servant of the noble sacred knowledge. A beautiful story she shared as to why she turned her life to authorship is a memory she had with her father رحمه الله. They were reading الترغيب والترهيب by Imam al-Mundhiri and came across a passage by Ibn al-Mubarak,

لا أعلم بعد النبوة درجة أفضل من بَثّ العلم

I don’t know anything more virtuous, after prophethood, than spreading knowledge.

And this passage fueled her desire to dedicate her life to spreading knowledge.

She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Shari’ah from Qatar University, and went on to complete her Master’s and PhD in Egypt. Her thesis and details were on these topics:

ماجستير من المعهد العالي للدراسات الإسلامية والعربية في مصر بعنوان: الطلاق والخلع في الشريعة الإسلامية مقارنة بالقانون القطري

دكتوراه من كلية الحقوق جامعة الزقازيق في مصر بعنوان: موقف المجتهدين المسلمين من دلالة قضايا الأعيان في الأحوال الشخصية والحدود والشهادات في الفقه

Notably, Shaykha Kamila has authored many books in various sciences and does tahqiq. Below is a list of some of her works:

تفسير غريب القرآن

الفوائد المسطورة في حل ألفاظ كتاب أعلام السنة المنشورة

الخلاصة في أصول الفقه

الإيضاحات في حل ألفاظ شرح المحلي على الورقات

كتاب الضوء الباهر في حل ألفاظ روضة الناظر وجنة المناظر

كتاب إعانة الموفق شرح السلم المنورق في علم المنطق

التسهيل المقنع في حل ألفاظ الروض المربع

المختصر من الممتع من شرح زاد المستقنع

البدر المنير في إضاءة إكليل الأمير على متن الخليل

إرشاد العدول لحل ألفاظ نهاية السول

قدم العالم وتسلسل الحوادث بين شيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية والفلاسفة – مع بيان من أخطأ في المسألة من السابقين والمعاصرين

الروضة الندية في شرح الأرجوزة المنية في ذكر حال أشرف البرية

كتاب تحفة الأبرار في أذكار طرفي النهار

كتاب أحكام صلاة الكسوف

:تحقيق

النبع الصافي شرح كتاب الكافي في فقه الإمام أحمد

بغية المقتصد شرح بداية المجتهد

شرح كتاب التحبير في علم التفسير للحافظ جلال الدين السيوطي

And more.

One thing you may notice is that she prioritizes the books of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Salih al-Uthaymin ​​رحمهم الله. She explains in her book المجلى في شرح القواعد المثلى that she had a dream where Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal رحمه الله came to her and told her to focus on their works. After this, she gave more attention to explaining, summarizing, and presenting the works of both.

As can be seen, Kamila al-Kuwari is a testament to female scholarship and serves as an example to us. She is a role model to follow, showing us that an individual’s role in the ummah is not limited to teaching, but also producing valuable works for everyone to benefit from. We ask Allah to preserve her, increase her rank, allow her works to be a means of goodness for her in this life and the next, and let us benefit from her.

Studying Fiqh & Her Methodology

Before I begin discussing her sharh, it is important to highlight the need for a sharh (commentary). A matn is compressed by design, and that compression is a feature for the advanced student but can be too difficult for the beginner. A sharh is what makes the matn legible and is the gateway for a beginner student to learn and understand. This is just an important emphasis on adhering to the structure set forth by the Quran, Sunnah, and our scholars on how to learn.

One of the books that Shaykha Kamila has explained is العذب المعين في حل ألفاظ منهج السالكين (The Sweet Flowing Spring in Explaining the Words of the Path of the Wayfarers). This book is an explanation of Shaykh Abd al-Rahman ibn Nasir al-Si’di’s رحمه الله fiqh primer (منهج السالكين).

I came across her sharh while looking for a commentary on Shaykh al-Si’di’s book, and I also wanted a book by Shaykha Kamila on my shelf. I already have two of her books (شرح منظومة القواعد الفقهية and الوسيط في النحو), so this one felt like a wonderful addition. After receiving this and going through it recently, she draws out what is already in the matn with precision and clarity, making it easy for the student reading to understand.

As I went through the book, she stuck exactly to her goals for the book. In the introduction, she laid out her methodology explicitly and delivered it consistently. Every time al-Si’di differed from the madhab, or when Ibn Taymiyyah departed from the relied-upon position (معتمد), she noted it. And each time, it is done in a way that acknowledges their valid ijtihad but shows that the position of the madhab is different.

Something else that I wanted to highlight is her etiquette with the scholars. This is the standard for how scholars normally discuss ikhtilaf and those who came before them. Every time she notes that al-Si’di differs from the madhab, saying “وقد خالف الشيخ المذهب في ذلك,” she then states what the madhab holds without dismissing his position or implying carelessness on his part, and praising him. Her handling of Ibn Taymiyyah is also important to note.

Ibn Taymiyyah is one of the greatest scholars of the Hanabila and also one who departed from it frequently, doing his own valid ijtihad. Shaykha Kamila does not present his positions as the madhab, but she doesn’t dismiss them. Instead, she attributes them precisely (واختاره شيخ الإسلام) and lets the student/reader draw their own conclusions. It shows a genuine familiarity with the internal dynamics of the tradition. Throughout the sharh, she integrates the unique, exclusive rulings (مفردات) of the madhab seamlessly, noting “وهو من المفردات” where necessary. It gradually builds the student’s awareness of what makes the madhab distinctive without overwhelming them.

The last thing I wanted to note that made me want to share the clarity of her shuruhat is the consistency. No matter what chapter she is discussing, she uses the same methodology, precision, fairness, and structure. Her commentary is precise without being verbose, and she doesn’t take too much time writing long paragraphs. There is no section where she rushed past it. It is a model of what Islamic authorship looks like.

Advice to Students, Especially Sisters

In today’s age, there are so many ways students can start learning. However, an important aspect that should be remembered is that teachers have the potential to be either a source of encouragement or a roadblock for the student.

In her introduction, Shaykha Kamila quotes Ibn Badran رحمه الله strongly warning against burdening beginners with extremely condensed works that are difficult to understand, explaining that this often harms comprehension and wastes time untangling complicated wording before the student has built proper foundations. He identified two reasons students can spend years studying and gain almost nothing:

الأول: عدم الزكاء الفطري وانتفاء الإدراك الصوري

The first: lack of natural intelligence and absence of conceptual perception (and this we have nothing to say about or remedy)

الثاني: الجهل بطرق التعليم

The second: ignorance of the methods of teaching (and this is what most teachers have fallen into)

Both of these should concern us, but the second reason in particular, because it is the one we can do something about. Shaykha Kamila’s goals for her series reflect this: to form a generation capable of understanding and mastering the books of Islamic heritage, and reconciling them with the requirements of the modern era. Her target audience (for this book specifically) is the beginner student.

For those who want to begin, she lays out a practical roadmap:

1. Start with a matn first: begin with short primary texts suited to your level and understand them first.

2. Try to understand it yourself before opening the sharh.

3. Open the sharh as a test of your own understanding and correct any mistakes.

4. Check the hashiya as a further test of your thinking.

5. Close the book and picture the issue in your mind.

6. Memorize with understanding and visualization, not just words and structures.

7. Express the meaning in your own words.

8. Go to your teacher, test yourself, and be corrected.

This is a simple method that requires discipline, honesty, and a teacher.

All in all, Shaykha Kamila is an inspiration for all students of knowledge. But for sisters with high aspirations, she is a reminder of something more. A living example that women can master this tradition, contribute to it seriously, and leave something behind that students will benefit from long after. By the will of Allah, she will be an encouragement to every sister who has ever wondered whether this path is for her.

Shaykha Kamila al-Kuwari is a scholar worth knowing, reading, and learning from. Her works are an example of what it looks like when someone takes both the content of this tradition and the responsibility of transmitting it seriously. It is clear that in her scholarship, she is following the path of the prophets and scholars who came before. For the student who wants to enter the tradition with proper foundations, especially if they want to study the madhab today, I highly recommend utilizing her works. She is someone we should look up to and absolutely add to our list of beloved scholars that we take from.

يحمل هذا العلم من كل خلف عدوله ينفون عنه تحريف الغالين وانتحال المبطلين وتأويل الجاهلين

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “This knowledge will be carried by the trustworthy of every successive generation, refuting the corruption of extremists, the distortions of falsifiers, and the interpretations of the ignorant.” [Musnad al-Shamiyyin 588]

حفظها الله وأدام توفيقها وجعل أعمالها نافعةً لهذه الأمة

Most people watch what’s happening across the world, go through every emotion, feel like there isn’t much they can do, say a prayer, and then go on about their lives. Another day, another hardship we see.

But…why are we stopping there? As Muslims, our first response normally when we see a terrible situation is du’a, and this is a good thing.

However, it’s not the only thing we can do to change our situation, whether individually or collectively. It’s actually just the beginning.

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Guidance Is Only From Allah

Allah says in Surah ar-Ra’d,

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا۟ مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ

Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. [13:11]

Shaykh as-Si’di رحمه الله said about this ayah,

Indeed, Allah will not change what a people have of blessing, goodness, and comfortable living, until they change what is in themselves by transitioning from faith to disbelief, obedience to disobedience, or from gratitude to ingratitude. At that point, Allah strips those blessings from them. Likewise, when servants change what is in themselves from sin and transition to obedience to Allah, Allah changes what they were in; from misery to goodness, joy, delight, and mercy. [Tafsir as-Si’di]

From the wisdom of Allah is that when a person desires guidance, Allah will guide them. He clarifies and makes the path clear for people. After that, choice, guidance, reward, and accountability are based upon that. But if they do not want guidance and fall into the traits mentioned above, then there is no guidance to begin with. Allah will remove what He gives them.

The person who changes what is in themselves first, Allah will change their condition from hardship and misery to goodness, contentment, and blessings. And this is how it occurs collectively, too. Our sins negatively affect the ummah just as our good deeds positively affect it.

Today, sin has become ambient. It shows up in unexpected ways, a lot of the time slowly through our phones, environment, and daily habits. Not only is the sin dangerous, but when a person’s heart stops registering it as a violation, the transgression against Allah does not go unnoticed until you repent and come back to Him.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to seek refuge in Allah from being stripped of guidance and blessings after being given them. And when guidance is close for a person but is taken away, Allah did not take it from them unjustly. Allah says,

ظَهَرَ ٱلْفَسَادُ فِى ٱلْبَرِّ وَٱلْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِى ٱلنَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُم بَعْضَ ٱلَّذِى عَمِلُوا۟ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ

Corruption has spread on land and sea as a result of what people’s hands have done, so that Allah may cause them to taste ˹the consequences of˺ some of their deeds and perhaps they might return ˹to the Right Path˺. [30:41]

Some of the scholars mention that the kind of change that drives blessings away and causes them to be removed is “because of what your hands have done.” One of the ways calamities strike a person is when they attribute the good within themselves to themself, forgetting that their Lord says in the hadith,

يَا عِبَادِي كُلُّكُمْ ضَالٌّ إِلاَّ مَنْ هَدَيْتُهُ فَاسْتَهْدُونِي أَهْدِكُمْ

Oh My servants, all of you are astray except those whom I guide, so seek guidance of Me, and I shall guide you. [Sahih Muslim 2577a]

All of us are astray except those whom Allah guides, and people are not guided because they are intelligent, polite, gentle with people, or good to their parents. It is by Allah only.

Allah is the One who grants the guidance of clarification, success, and enablement out of His bounty, generosity, and grace. And He does not punish anyone until He has first given them the guidance of clarification.

Bani Isra’il as a Mirror

If we want to understand what this ayah looks like when it plays out across nations, we don’t have to theorize, because this principle has a precedent. From the stories of the people of Lut, Nuh, Hud, Salih عليهم الصلاة والسلام, and more, we see examples of communities that rose, fell, were restored, and then fell again. Cycles of honor and humiliation are tied directly to their faithfulness or their corruption. Of all the nations mentioned throughout the Qur’an, Bani Isra’il is mentioned more frequently.

Allah says in Surah al-Baqarah,

يَـٰبَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ ٱذْكُرُوا۟ نِعْمَتِىَ ٱلَّتِىٓ أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَنِّى فَضَّلْتُكُمْ عَلَى ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ

O Children of Isra’il! Remember ˹all˺ the favours I granted you and how I honoured you above the others. [2:47]

Bani Isra’il were chosen, honored, given prophets one after another, given scripture and miracles. The sea split, provision came down from the sky, and water came from a rock for them. They were not a people who were neglected or forgotten; they had everything and STILL declined. And this is what makes the parallel to the Muslim ummah today, inheritors of the final and complete revelation, uncomfortable and necessary.

The decline of them as a whole was a gradual erosion, and one of the clearest ways was how they began to rationalize their way around Allah’s limits.

وَسْـَٔلْهُمْ عَنِ ٱلْقَرْيَةِ ٱلَّتِى كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ ٱلْبَحْرِ إِذْ يَعْدُونَ فِى ٱلسَّبْتِ إِذْ تَأْتِيهِمْ حِيتَانُهُمْ يَوْمَ سَبْتِهِمْ شُرَّعًۭا وَيَوْمَ لَا يَسْبِتُونَ ۙ لَا تَأْتِيهِمْ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ نَبْلُوهُم بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَفْسُقُونَ

Ask them ˹O Prophet˺ about ˹the people of˺ the town which was by the sea, who broke the Sabbath. During the Sabbath, ˹abundant˺ fish would come to them clearly visible, but on other days the fish were never seen. In this way, We tested them for their rebelliousness. [7:163]

Here is a clear example of them finding a workaround, and this is perhaps one of the most recognizable diseases of our time. The way we reframe, rationalize, and find exceptions for what Allah has made clear, telling ourselves it doesn’t really count, that our situation is different, that the intention makes it acceptable.

And then there was the disease of mistaking identity for accountability.

وَقَالُوا۟ لَن تَمَسَّنَا ٱلنَّارُ إِلَّآ أَيَّامًا مَّعْدُودَةً

And they said, the fire will never touch us except for a few days. [2:80]

They believed their covenant with Allah softened the consequences of their sins. But their identity was not a substitute for accountability.

And another devastating part of their story is what Allah says about those among them who knew and said nothing:

كَانُوا۟ لَا يَتَنَاهَوْنَ عَن مُّنكَرٍۢ فَعَلُوهُ ۚ لَبِئْسَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَفْعَلُونَ

They did not forbid one another from doing evil. Evil indeed was what they did! [5:79]

Allah condemns them for their silence. The ones who saw and understood what was wrong and said nothing. The collective instinct to correct one another was gone, and when that goes away, something sinister begins. Enjoining the good and forbidding the evil (امر بالمعروف ونهي عن المنكر) is not simply a recommended practice but an obligatory action that is embedded within our religion.

All of this, the rationalization, complacency, and silence, led to what Allah states plainly:

وَقَضَيْنَآ إِلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ فِى ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ لَتُفْسِدُنَّ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَرَّتَيْنِ وَلَتَعْلُنَّ عُلُوًّۭا كَبِيرًۭا فَإِذَا جَآءَ وَعْدُ أُولَىٰهُمَا بَعَثْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ عِبَادًۭا لَّنَآ أُو۟لِى بَأْسٍۢ شَدِيدٍۢ فَجَاسُوا۟ خِلَـٰلَ ٱلدِّيَارِ ۚ وَكَانَ وَعْدًۭا مَّفْعُولًۭا

And We warned the Children of Isra’il in the Scripture, “You will certainly cause corruption in the land twice, and you will become extremely arrogant. When the first of the two warnings would come to pass, We would send against you some of Our servants of great might, who would ravage your homes. This would be a warning fulfilled. [17:4-5]

In the simplest of terms, internal corruption leads to external consequences. What makes Bani Isra’il a mirror is that their story is not a sudden, catastrophic failure. It was a gradual drift until the external condition of the community reflected what happened internally.

This is not to say that we are like them, but a reminder for us to resist the urge to only look outward. There are real aggressors and real oppression; that is not in question. But Allah’s consistent way of dealing with nations before us is an example. Allah gave them chance after chance. The door was never closed until they closed it themselves.

Islam Is Not an Individualist Religion

It’s important to confront what is at the forefront of this issue. Islam is not a religion that only concerns the individual. It’s a portion of it, such as things that are obligatory or recommended for you as a person, but we cannot overlook the communal aspect that is intrinsic to this deen.

Look at how the deen has been designed. Salah in congregation, zakat of the community flowing back to those in need, hajj gathering the ummah in one place, at one time, dressed the same. The entire architecture of Islam resists the isolation of the individual from the collective.

So many have convinced themselves that the effects of sins are only individual and not something that affects all of us. That our sins are only personal matters between Allah and us. But sins, especially public ones, have a ripple beyond ourselves.

This is made even clearer by our Prophet ﷺ:

مَثَلُ الْقَائِمِ عَلَى حُدُودِ اللَّهِ وَالْوَاقِعِ فِيهَا كَمَثَلِ قَوْمٍ اسْتَهَمُوا عَلَى سَفِينَةٍ فَأَصَابَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَعْلَاهَا وَبَعْضُهُمْ أَسْفَلَهَا فَكَانَ الَّذِينَ فِي أَسْفَلِهَا إِذَا اسْتَقَوْا مِنْ الْمَاءِ مَرُّوا عَلَى مَنْ فَوْقَهُمْ فَقَالُوا لَوْ أَنَّا خَرَقْنَا فِي نَصِيبِنَا خَرْقًا وَلَمْ نُؤْذِ مَنْ فَوْقَنَا فَإِنْ يَتْرُكُوهُمْ وَمَا أَرَادُوا هَلَكُوا جَمِيعًا وَإِنْ أَخَذُوا عَلَى أَيْدِيهِمْ نَجَوْا وَنَجَوْا جَمِيعًا

The parable of those who respect the limits of Allah and those who violate them is that of people who board a ship after casting lots, some of them residing in its upper deck and others in its lower deck. When those in the lower deck want water, they pass by the upper deck and say: If we tear a hole in the bottom of the ship, we will not harm those above us. If those in the upper deck let them do what they want, they will all be destroyed together. If they restrain them, they will all be saved together. [Sahih al-Bukhari 2493]

The hole you drill in your corner of the ship is never just your problem.

In ad-Da’wa al-Dawa’, Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله writes,

‏لا تغتّر إذا لم ترَ أثر ذنبك في حينه، فقد تجد أثره بعد أربعين سنة…

من عقوبات الذنوب أنها تزيل النعم وتحل النقم، فما زالت عن العبد نعمة إلا لسبب ذنب، ولا حلت به نقمة إلا بذنب، كما قال علي بن أبي طالب رضي الله عنه: ما نزل بلاء إلا بذنب ولا رفع بلاء إلا بتوبة. وقد قال تعالى: وَمَا أَصَابَكُم مِّن مُّصِيبَةٍ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَيَعْفُو عَن كَثِيرٍ. وقال تعالى: ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللّهَ لَمْ يَكُ مُغَيِّرًا نِّعْمَةً أَنْعَمَهَا عَلَى قَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُواْ مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ وَأَنَّ اللّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ…

وقد أحسن القائل: إذا كنت في نعمة فارعها فإن الذنوب تزيل النعم. وحطها بطاعة رب العباد فرب العباد سريع النقم.

Do not be deceived if you do not see the consequence of your sin immediately, for you may find its effect after forty years.

Among the punishments of sins is that they remove blessings and bring down afflictions. No blessing is removed from a servant except due to a sin, and no affliction befalls him except due to a sin. As Ali رضي الله عنه said, “No calamity descends except due to a sin, and no calamity is lifted except through repentance.” Allah the Most High said, “And whatever strikes you of disaster, it is for what your hands have earned, and He pardons much.” And he said, “That is because Allah would not change a blessing He had bestowed upon a people until they change what is in themselves, and indeed Allah is Hearing and Knowing…”

And how well the poet said, “If you are in a blessing, then guard it, for sins remove blessings. Protect it through obedience to the Lord of all servants, for the Lord of all servants is swift in retribution.”

The Gap Between Wanting & Doing

The scholars—both traditional and contemporary—emphasize that this ayah from Surah ar-Ra’d is one of the great divine laws by which Allah deals with individuals and societies. Allah does not remove blessings, security, strength, guidance, ease, or honor from a people unless they themselves first change through sin, disobedience, ingratitude, corruption, and turning away from Him.

Allah does not lift people from weakness, humiliation, hardship, and punishment into goodness, victory, guidance, and stability unless they themselves begin changing through repentance, obedience, sincerity, striving, and reform. So, this ayah works in both directions: people can descend through disobedience, and they can rise through obedience.

As Allah says,

إِنَّا هَدَيْنَـٰهُ ٱلسَّبِيلَ إِمَّا شَاكِرًۭا وَإِمَّا كَفُورًا

We already showed them the Way, whether they ˹choose to˺ be grateful or ungrateful. [76:3]

But what does change mean? It’s important to clarify and understand what it entails. We want victory, honor, societal reform, the defeat of oppression, and the return of strength to the ummah, but we often want these things without changing ourselves first. We want Allah to change our condition while remaining attached to laziness, weakness, sin, or passivity. But transformation begins inwardly before it appears outwardly.

I was watching a lecture by Shaykh Salih al-Usaymi حفظه الله about this, and he said that this ayah in Surah ar-Ra’d is not about changing circumstances in the general sense, but about the descent of punishments. We understand this due to what the Salaf رضي الله عنهم stated. In the language of the Shari’ah, ‘change’ does not simply mean transforming yourself or society from a bad condition to a virtuous one. Rather, in the revealed texts, change has two meanings:

1. The occurrence of punishments

2. Changing and removing evil

There is a difference between Allah’s laws concerning individuals and those concerning the collective. A person may be righteous, striving hard in worship and da’wah, yet broad societal change may still not occur because collective change requires a larger body of people committed to truth, reform, sacrifice, unity, and perseverance.

Change is not just wanting the oppressors removed while we remain sitting unchanged ourselves. Instant transformation does not occur as if a solution will fall from the sky, and everything is fine. That is a romanticized idea of change, and it is very unrealistic.

Change requires discipline, effort, sacrifice, and a love for something bigger than ourselves. The love that is motivated by wanting to please your Lord and understanding and acting upon the Qur’an and Sunnah. A person reforms themselves, then families reform, communities reform, and through this, Allah gradually brings about larger societal change.

If Muslims want our conditions to be changed, then we must first begin the process of changing what is within ourselves—spiritually, intellectually, and collectively—while remaining patient and trusting in Allah’s wisdom and timing. True change in nations happens gradually and according to Allah’s decreed laws, not through emotions, slogans, or idealized expectations.

A Starting Point

When immorality and injustice spread within a community, the external weakness is a symptom of the community severing itself from the source of its strength. The disease is internal, and if so, then so is the cure.

This ayah is also a door. A door to the path of steadfastness, hope, and mercy. As Muslims, we should remember our Lord. Love Him, fear Him, be in awe of Him, and remember that He is Al-Qadir. Know and remember that we are not immune to what happened to the nations before us if we remain in a state unconcerned about our sins and with hearts that are numb.

This is not meant to belittle anyone or increase despair, but it is a reminder for us to be honest with ourselves. Honest self-examination (محاسبة) at what we have allowed to settle in our hearts, what we neglect, what we have stopped feeling the weight of. Rectification and taking action to correct errors and improve before we are brought to account.

And we have the best examples before us who were sincere, honest, and steadfast in making sure they rectified themselves and their communities, such as the Salaf. And we are a people whose Prophet ﷺ taught us that sincere repentance wipes what came before it, that Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant when they turn towards Him than if they were finding a lost camel.

The condition of the ummah is not separate from the condition of its individuals. It is made of them, and it is us, accumulated. The starting point is between your Lord and you, changing what you can. It is not only du’a, but sincere repentance, coupled with action, that changes oneself from the smallest of deeds to the biggest.

All of this is a reminder to myself first.

I always wondered if other people did this, if it was following all of us or just me (probably thinking I was super special). But I for sure remember thinking: we are way too relaxed about the moon. My 9-year-old self thought: Why aren’t more people freaking out about this huge circle in the sky just following us?! I don’t know how people can pass through the world without ever looking up, never seeing what’s around them.

I’ve always loved the moon, sometimes feeling like I have a personal relationship with it, and with the recent attention on it from Artemis II, which has reminded the world to look up, pay attention, and to remember how everything is connected, I found myself thinking about how often we pass by this sign of Allah’s Greatness without truly reflecting on it.

When I look up at the moon, I am always in awe. There’s a stillness that settles in the heart, a quiet kind of comfort that cannot be explained. It reminds me of how we all stare at the same moon.

It is the same moon that nations before me have gazed at. The same moon that people have traveled, fallen in love, and whispered secrets under. The same moon that our beloved Prophet ﷺ looked at.

The sun is powerful and beautiful, overwhelming in its brightness. When you gaze at it for too long, it can harm you. But the moon? The moon is gentle. Its light soothes. It doesn’t demand attention. And it changes, full, then fading, then a crescent, then returning, just like us. It doesn’t shine on its own but reflects light.

During the night, the moon is the brightest place, the intersection of gazes of all living beings. The sun rotates, and all sides of it become visible from Earth over about a month. But everyone on Earth sees the same “near side” of the moon, because it is tidally locked in its orbit, never turning away from us.

Wherever we go, the moon accompanies us. The moon remains facing us, as if it were placed in the sky to be a constant companion. This reminds me that the signs of Allah are never distant; they follow us and surround us.

If only we would just look up.

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The Moon Is a Sign of Allah’s Greatness

Allah says in Surah al-Furqan,

تَبَارَكَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ بُرُوجًۭا وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا سِرَٰجًۭا وَقَمَرًۭا مُّنِيرًۭا وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ ٱلَّيْلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ خِلْفَةًۭ لِّمَنْ أَرَادَ أَن يَذَّكَّرَ أَوْ أَرَادَ شُكُورًۭا

Blessed is He who has placed in the sky great stars and placed therein a lamp and a shining moon. And He is the One Who causes the day and the night to alternate, ˹as a sign˺ for whoever desires to be mindful or to be grateful. [25:61-62]

SubhanAllah. The moon is like a fellow to reflection.

This ayah establishes a principle: the alternation of night and day, and what is placed in the sky is not a random occurrence. They are structured signs designed to produce two outcomes in us: remembrance of Allah and gratitude to Him.

In this sign of precise order and beauty is the greatness of our Creator in all of His attributes, indicative of His immense generosity. The repetition itself is part of the message. Night returns after day, and day after night, not just as a cycle of time, but as a repeated opportunity. Remembrance of Allah (dhikr) and acts of worship are repeated just as night and day are.

The more times they are repeated, the more this will renew our energy and motivation so that we will remember Him and show more gratitude. Gratitude that will, in turn, increase blessings for us.

If one moment is missed, another follows. If one day passes in heedlessness, the next comes as a chance to correct it. The moon points you back to Allah, pulling you out of distraction and into awareness. The sign is there, but what matters is what it leads you to.

And I understand why it feels like it takes something extraordinary—like a mission to the moon—to force people to feel what they were always meant to feel.

But this cycle shows how everything is connected and how intricately our Lord created this universe and everything in it, exalted is He. It has always been there.

“Acts of worship are like irrigation and nourishment for faith; were it not for that, the plant of faith would wither. To Allah be all praise.”

Abdurrahman as-Sa’di رحمه الله

A Reminder

Bringing it back to today, and with all the excitement surrounding Artemis II, people are looking at the world with a renewed sense of wonder because of this recent mission.

There is awe, curiosity, and even a kind of hope being expressed by many. People are speaking about how it’s bringing humanity together during times of hardship, how it inspires, and how it feels like something meaningful.

And it is meaningful, don’t get me wrong. But it makes me think: if people can feel this inspired by astronauts reaching the moon, then what about the One who created it? If this action can stir something deep within the heart, then what does it say about us if we are not moved by the signs of Allah that surround us every single day?

During the day, everything feels loud. There is always something to do, somewhere to be, someone to respond to. Hours pass without ever pausing, without ever noticing.

But at night, everything softens. The noise around us fades, movement slows. And somehow, without trying, I find myself looking up.

When’s the last time you looked around and paused?

The moon has always been there. It has never failed to appear. It has always been within sight, always above us, always pointing to something greater.

The Qur’an does not present the moon as something to be reached, but as something to be reflected upon. That’s why the ayah from Surah al-Furqan is a reminder, because we have so many signs in front of us, yet we are missing them.

The moon remains a sign, whether we notice it or not. We are the ones who fluctuate, who become distracted and forgetful; we delay reflection until life quiets us down.

What it should be is to not only be moved by the creation but also remember our Creator. To not only be inspired by the outcome but by the One Who decreed it. To look at the moon and be in awe, but to also let that feeling bring us back to Allah.

But in the signs of Allah are reminders for the believer to pause and be grateful.

Look Up

It’s strange how something so constant can feel so personal. The same moon I’m admiring hangs above every place, every person, every living thing. Someone on the other side of the world was just looking at it before me, another person is staring at it at the same time as me, and someone else will look at it right after me.

And at night, when the world settles, something else begins to surface. Thoughts we didn’t make time for during the day. Memories we forgot. Feelings that haven’t been fully processed. A kind of restlessness that only becomes visible when everything else disappears.

But in that stillness, the moon feels like more than just something to look at. It serves as a moment of remembrance for us.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

إِنَّ خِيَارَ عِبَادِ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ يُرَاعُونَ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ وَالنُّجُومَ وَالْأَظِلَّةَ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ

“Verily, among the best servants of Allah are those who observe the sun, the moon, the stars, and the shades for the remembrance of Allah.” [al-Sunan al-Kubra lil-Bayhaqi 170]

The next time you look up at the moon, don’t just admire it. Let it remind you that Allah has placed signs all around us, not to be overlooked, but to bring you back to Him.

And the One who created something so vast, so precise, and so beautiful is more deserving of your awe than the creation itself. This hadith came to mind when thinking about this:

One night, the Prophet ﷺ was with some companions, and he looked at the full moon. He ﷺ said, “You will see your Lord just as you see this moon. There will be no crowd to block your sight. Thus, if you can avoid missing prayer before the rising of the sun and its setting, then do so. Then he recited this verse,

وَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ قَبْلَ طُلُوعِ ٱلشَّمْسِ وَقَبْلَ ٱلْغُرُوبِ

‘And glorify the praises of your Lord before sunrise and before sunset.’ [50:39]” [Sahih Bukhari 554, Muslim 633]

The same moon we look at absentmindedly is used to describe the greatest reward of the Muslim. What we look at every night is meant to prepare our hearts for something far greater.

That’s why our beloved Prophet ﷺ said this when he sighted the crescent of a new moon,

اللهم أهله علينا بالأمن والإيمان والسلامة والإسلام والتوفيق لما تحب وترضى ربنا وربك الله

O Allah, bring it over us with safety and faith, security and Islam, guidance to what You love and is pleasing to You. Our Lord and your Lord is Allah. [Sahih Ibn Hibban 888]

So, during the night, look up. Look at the moon not just with your eyes, but with a heart that remembers. Know that it is one of the greatest signs of Allah and say alhamdulilah when gazing at it.

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.

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 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?

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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 important because it shows that optimism does not equal the absence of fear. Being optimistic does not mean you become naive, unemotional, or deluded, but 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 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, but 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. 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 different meaning.

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 is an example for me. A reminder that 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.

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Visibility and Perception

What comes with being visibly Muslim is being put in a position where I am constantly interpreted before I am known. And for a while, 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 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.

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, an act of worship between you and Allah alone.

On 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.

But 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]

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 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. 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 trust 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. 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. Steadfastness is not the absence of difficulty, but choosing to obey Allah in the midst of hardship.

Beauty and Discipline

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 wonderful feeling.

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.

But 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. 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 is an unmatched joy.

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.

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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.

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 point, 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. And of course, as Muslims, this goes directly against our beliefs.

So, is goodness truly unrewarded, or is there a misunderstanding of the nature of its reward?

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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. 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?

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.

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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 us.

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.

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. It is not a coincidence that billion-dollar industries feed on this cycle, 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.

But where society pities the aging woman, Islam honors her. Here are just a few narrations from our beloved Prophet ﷺ on the 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 reality, aging is a sign 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. 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 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 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.

And 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 does not call women to erase beauty, nor to worship it. It acknowledges beauty, reorients it, and grounds it in servitude to Allah.

Body Neutrality, Tabarruj, & Self-Love

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. But in Islam, your worth does not rise and fall with your appearance. It 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.

Moving Towards What Lasts

This is the liberation Islam gives. 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-Jamil, the Most Beautiful. So the real question is not: “Am I beautiful enough?” but: “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?