Asmaa Hussein

“But, once in a while, people enter your life that you love—not for what they give you—but for what they are. The beauty you see in them is a reflection of the Creator, so you love them. Now suddenly it isn’t about what you’re getting, but rather what you can give. This is unselfish love.”
― Yasmin Mogahed, Reclaim Your Heart: Personal Insights on Breaking Free from Life's Shackles

“لَمَّا عَفَوْتُ وَلَمْ أَحْقِدْ عَلَى أَحَدٍ
أَرَحْتُ نَفْسِي مِنْ هَمِّ الْعَدَاوَاتِ

إنِّي أُحَيِّي عَدُوِّي عِنْدَ رُؤْيَتِهِ
لِأَدْفَعَ الشَّرَّ عَنِّي بِالتَّحِيَّاتِ

وَأُظْهِرُ الْبِشْرَ لِلْإِنْسَانِ أَبْغَضُهُ
كَأَنَّهُ قَدْ حَشَى قَلْبِي مَحَبَّاتِ

وَلَسْتُ أَسْلَمُ مِمَّنْ لَسْتُ أَعْرِفُهُ
فَكَيْفَ أَسْلَمُ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْمَوَدَّاتِ”
― محمد بن إدريس الشافعي, ديوان الإمام الشافعي

“ها هو الأفق ينطبق على الأرض، دائمًا ينطبق على الأرض من أي موقف ترصده، فيا له من سجن لانهائى”
― نجيب محفوظ, الشحاذ

“Allah gives us gifts, but then we come to love them as we should only love Him. We take those gifts and inject them into our hearts, until they take over. Soon we cannot live without them. Every waking moment is spent in contemplation of them, in submission and worship to them. The mind and the heart that was created by Allah, for Allah, becomes the property of someone or something else. And then the fear comes. The fear of loss begins to cripple us. The gift—that should have remained in our hands—takes over our heart, so the fear of losing it consumes us. Soon, what was once a gift becomes a weapon of torture and a prison of our own making. How can we be freed of this? At times, in His infinite mercy, Allah frees us…by taking it away.
As a result of it being taken, we turn to Allah wholeheartedly. In that desperation and need, we ask, we beg, we pray. Through the loss, we reach a level of sincerity and humility and dependence on Him which we would otherwise not reach—had it not been taken from us. Through the loss, our hearts turn entirely to face Him.”
― Yasmin Mogahed, Reclaim Your Heart: Personal Insights on Breaking Free from Life's Shackles