My Health Profession

Many of us only hear destructive marriage stories within the Muslim community. The constant flow of negative narratives can cause many to cringe and fear marriage. However, the reality is that there are so many incredible, beautiful, passionate, fulfilling and compassionate love stories in the Muslim community. In this mini-series, we hope to shed light on the beauty that exists in many Muslim marriages. Here is just one glimpse of a Muslim couple who truly appreciate the small gestures of love between them. I’ll let the wife tell her story: “Every morning, my husband gets up, goes and prays fajr (morning prayer) in the masjid, comes home, gets ready for work, and then we have a special goodbye hug before he leaves for the day. That hug energizes both of us for the day and we know it is a very special moment. This morning, I had not realized that the time for fajr at the masjid changed and it was later than usual. So while I was praying fajr and my hus...

The Artist of All Artists You haven’t really realized your place in life until you’ve tried to describe a sunset in words. I realized this as I sat on a large rock near a creek on the University of Maryland campus and tried to describe the breathtaking view with pen and paper. I worked at it for several minutes and when I thought my list was perfect, I set my pen down and skimmed through the descriptions. At the end of my reading, I felt proud that my descriptions seemed so complete. Then I studied the sky again. Not even close. The artist within each of us has an intense drive to describe what we see and feel; writers through words, painters through pigments, musicians through lyrics, poets through prose, and so on. We do not create anything new in the process; nature, emotions, and experiences already exist.  We only try to capture a fraction of their magnitude. And still, no matter how many hours someone spends describing a sunset, i...

The ambulance was shrieking, and I was the unlucky patient being hurriedly transported to the local hospital. My body lay on a stretcher inside the vehicle, pain shooting through my left arm. “It looks like a massive heart attack,” I heard one of the paramedics whisper. Not knowing the true severity of my situation, I shut my eyes, desperately praying to Ar-Rahman (The Merciful) to have mercy on His slave. ….. I impatiently tugged at the oxygen tubes in my nose, wondering when I would be able to escape from this prison the public decreed was a hospital.  A cardiologist soon strolled into my room, her brown eyes vibrant with empathy as she laid my chart down on the side counter and turned towards me, exclaiming, “ As-salaamu `alaykum Aisha.” Believing her kindness to be merely the facet of a friendly facade, I brusquely muttered an inaudible “ Wa `alaykum as-salaam .” The doctor tucked a strand of loose hair back in her hijab and began the arduous task...

How to Achieve Tranquility of the Heart “Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured.” (Qur’an, 13:28 ) In the last article in this section, we wrap up the things we have to do in our journey to gain tranquility of the heart with the remembrance of Allah. When we try to figure out why we are so often bothered,  why we feel disturbed internally, or why we feel sad – we need to go back to our hearts. The Prophet ﷺ (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Do not talk too much without remembering and mentioning Allah, for too much talk without mentioning Allah hardens the heart, and the person farthest from Allah is the one with a hard heart.” (Tirmidhi) SubhanAllah (glory to Allah) – our heart hardens when we do not remember Allah. The heart’s nourishment is the remembrance of Allah, and when we fail to remember Him, it is no wonder that we feel down for no apparent reason. Ibn al-Qayyim stated, “In the heart there...

 No one likes to fall. And few people would ever choose to drown. But in struggling through the ocean of this life, sometimes it’s so hard not to let the world in. Sometimes the ocean does enter us. The dunya does seep into our hearts. And like the water that breaks the boat, when dunya enters, it shatters our heart.  It shatters the boat. Recently, I was reminded of what a broken boat looks like, of what happens when you let everything in. I was reminded because I saw someone, just like me, fall in love too much with this life and seek to be filled by the creation. So the ocean of dunya shattered her boat, as it had shattered mine, and she fell out into the water.  But she stayed down too long, and didn’t know how to come back up or what to hold on to. So she drowned. If you allow dunya to own your heart, like the ocean that owns the boat, it will take over. You will sink down to the depths of the sea. You will touch the ocean floor. A...