Peace be upon you, dear friends,
Quite the month it has been!
This Ramadan felt so different than the other ones before it. I felt the need to step back from my already almost non-existent presence on the internet and even so I must say, it felt so good. I cut down on social media (to an extent), the writing, the online content consumption…so that I could stay focused and make the most out of those blessed days. I didn’t want it to end. So this was my state the night before Eid. 👇
Who else could relate?
I hope you had a wonderful time as well.
During Ramadan, I’ve done a buddy read of The Book of Knowledge which is the first of a series of books forming Ihyaa Ouloum Al-Din or The Revival of the Religious Sciences by Abu Hamid Al Ghazali. During some late-night video calls, Heba and I would do tadarous (studying) of the parts we’ve read throughout the week and talk about the ideas that resonated with us. Those sessions were very instructive and a lot of fun; between Heba’s attempts to understand what I’m saying in darija (Morrocan dialect) and my attempts to talk Egyptian to deliver the message, there were a lot of laughs. AlhamdoulilAllah.
This might sound like a brag (which totally is btw! Lol!) but here is the thing if you don’t know already, most Moroccans understand almost all Arabic dialects and some even can speak them fluently but not the other way around. Darija seems alien to most of our fellow Arabs in the middle east. It has something to do with our import of their tv programs and the flourishing state of their media industry compared to ours.
Aside from her being an architect and a content creator, Heba and I share a lot of similar interests so you might wanna check out her channel.
That was just a quick Hi, to let you know that I’m back and that there will be more insights from the first book of the amazing Ihyaa in the upcoming issues insha’Allah.
Have a great week.
Much ❤️.
📹The Sphere of Youtube
I’m three videos into this series by Hamza Yusuf on The Book of Knowledge.
What a spiritual feast! I highly recommend it.
💭 This Week’s Quote
"Who looks inside, awakes."
― Carl Gustav Jung.
Thanks for Reading!
Thoughts and feedback on the newsletter or on anything covered within are always welcome, just hit reply. Hope you enjoyed this. As always, I appreciate you.
Stay curious and have a great week. 🤟
Meriem.
Yeyyy ! Happy comeback :)
can't wait for the next issue :)
😍😍