To Dust We Belong

By Sidra Rashid Try to spare out some time today; sit peacefully and contemplate the central concern of our life. Try answering these questions: what do you think about most? What makes you cry? What causes you most stress and anxiety? What is the very first thing you think about when you wake up and...

Happiness – a state of mind or a milestone?

By Maha Amjad Everyone is searching for happiness; but is happiness really a destination or a journey? Standing in front of the university crowd, all glammed up for the farewell, she was asked to give a word of advice. All her thoughts about prompting them to understand the word of God went out of her mind amidst the discussion about their search for happiness. She...

Chapter 13: The Waning Dusk (series)

Myth: Whine for more لَٮِٕن شَڪَرۡتُمۡ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمۡ‌ۖ   This snippet is from one of the most beautiful verses of the Quran on gratitude from surah Ibrahim (v. 7). And I wrote just the Arabic text here for you guys to read it and comprehend it better when I expand on it. In Arabic, there are a lot of...

My Ramadan Diary: Forgive Me When I Whine

By Umm Ibrahim Hot days? Long fasts? Parched tongue? Droopy eyes? Aching legs? This Ramadan, I will not whine! I absolutely refuse to complain. Not only will I not complain to Tom, Dick and Harry (or to Jamilah, Sakinah and Aneela) I will not even complain to myself! I feel too grateful to do that. I...

In Pursuit of Happiness

The writer is a convert sister from the Scandinavian part of Europe who has been following the activities of the Youth Club through the online realm. She has written this piece exclusively for the Youth Club Blog. We welcome her to Islam, and pray that Allah grants her steadfastness.   I've been raised watching romantic comedies and all kinds...

Gratitude – An Attitude

For quite some time, I've been noticing a trait that is very common amongst us, irrespective of whether we're religious or not. We all have, more or less, ingratitude! We don't have gratitude. The reason I use the word 'have' and not 'show' is that gratitude is an attitude, it's a whole different paradigm. If you have...

The Missing Ingredient: Gratitude

By Fareed Ahmad Stephen R. Covey, in his book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, compares the concept of Character Ethics with Professional Ethics.  He stresses that in order to succeed in the long term, a person must focus on enhancing his character ethics, rather than merely his professional ethics. Character ethics cover several...

Heedless…

There’s no such thing as a coincidence. Since 3-4 days I’ve been observing that at this hour (third part of the night) a bird, or a few of them, starts chirping. First it amazed me because you rarely hear a bird chirping so peacefully at this time. I couldn’t help but think that it’s praising...