Aisyah

The one thing that I made sure to have in my picture were the badges on my apron. The art of illusion is to have so many that people would not know when you add or remove them. I just like to have fun with them.

You are the company you keep. The people you choose to be in your life is important. 4 most important people around me - father, mother, brother and grandfather - are huge and avid readers. If they are not listening to music, there are listening to podcasts, and almost every time, they have a book in hand. My favourite time seeing my parent read is while they wait for their other half come back from a long day from work, almost every time, they have a book on their left and a pot of Irish tea on their right. I thank Allah for these small and consistent things in life. May we choose the company we keep wisely.

Al-Ghazali on Intention, Sincerity and Truthfulness

by Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali

Be it another online course or a new hobby, I try to read this book every time i want to start something new. A memorable line for me would be “It is seen that knowledge is the seed, action is sowing, and that watering is sincerity.” From this imagery, ikhlas becomes an action word, not just a state of mind, but something you always have to renew each time you want to engage in that particular act. Just like how the gardener would have to fill the watering can with water, sincerity needs to be something we always renew before engaging with the action again.

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Fiqh of Social Media

by Omar Usman

As a person who uses the phone as an extension of herself, i know it is important to learn the adab of being on social media. Omar Usman talks about aspects of social media that we consume that has negative impact on our lives, and so encourages us to challenge our social media habits and revisit our intentions. Revisiting our intentions behind giving someone, virtually or not, feedback. Are we doing this because we truly love the other and want them to be better people, or as a self-serving dawah? It is probably a good thing that we are to think twice before posting anything on social media. It is of course, equally as scary, that we will be held accountable to all that we post and comment on. The choices we make to post something, will reflect the kind of image we want other people to see.

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Lore of Light

by Amina Adil

I was intimidated by the thickness of the book. Skimming through the contents, i found myself reading the stories of the prophets that i was interested in on any given day. One day it could be about Prophet Lut, another it could be on Prophet Yacoub and Prophet Yusuf. And I covered quite a few Prophet’s stories… but when I finally decided that it was time I read them in order, I realise the importance of respecting Amina Adil’s decision to put the stories in that particular order. The world coming together, how several of the Prophets stories link with the other, how the matters of the past affect our current state of things, and in certain aspects, foreshadowing the future. The stories weaves in very nicely from one to the other.

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Angels in Your Presence

by Omar Suleiman

Title got my attention. I would love to know how angels guide us through our lives. The book talks us through certain milestones in life. Showing how angels are present, how they protect our wellbeing and monitor our actions. The actions that we do will either attract more angels and duas, or will cause shytan’s arrow to hit us and have us in a state of blameworthiness. It is important to acknowledge that there are unseen beings with us, for us to have proper adab when we face situations in our lives. To be mindful about what we say and do, because it is not just our family and friends who are there to witness our lives, but also the unseen beings.

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Jibreel Stories

by Maulana Abul Noor Muhammad Bashir

Title got my attention. I want to know more about Jibreel AS’s relationship with Allah SWT and the Prophet SAW. Events that happen involving Jibreel AS that the Prophet SAW narrated to his sahabahs. The relationship between them during battles, when the times Jibreel AS needed to travel the fastest, and on the purity of Maryam AR and Aisha RA. It is quite beautiful how time and space goes into a different reality when the topic is on spiritual beings. We are in the material realm, so it is an eye opener to read about a different realm.

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