Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Recommendation: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
To kick start Ramadan in as spiritually elevated place as possible, I think it’s necessary to crack this book out and give it another read. Yasmin’s words are of great solace, particularly when in the deepest of despair.
The book starts with many (many!) reviews and I think it really sets the tone for what to expect from the book and gives you a realistic idea of what you may get out of reading it.
Just reading the opening chapter I’m so glad that I’ve chosen to restart this book as it starts by tackling the problems with attachment and those who become easily attached. Yasmin says “Through my attachments, I was dependent on my relationships to fulfill my needs. I allowed those relationships to define my happiness or my sadness, my fulfillment or my emptiness, my security, and even my self-worth. And so, like the vase placed where it will inevitably fall, through those dependencies I set myself up for disappointment. I set myself up to be broken. And that’s exactly what I found: one disappointment, one break after another.” I just think that that is such an accurate depiction of attachment and hits home for me during a time of real strife, the situations and heartbreak that seems ever-present in my emotional attachments to others.
It then goes on to say “There is only one relationship that should define our self-worth and only one source from which to seek our ultimate happiness, fulfillment, and security. That place is God.” Which is I think, what everybody should be striving for and what I myself have been trying to learn for some time.
Reading this book again brought back all of the feelings of closeness to my faith that may have been lacking as of late and I found it incredibly heartwarming and motivating. I would recommend this to everybody; whether you’re struggling with your faith, with the dunya, whether you want to just reconnect, whether you’re just curious about Islam, this book brings light to the heat in an otherwise dark world.
“Seek the help of people—but realize that it is not the people (or even your own self) that can save you. Only Allah can do these things. The people are only tools, a means used by God. But they are not the source of help, aid, or salvation of any kind. Only God is.” Such a simple idea that Islam teaches us over and over, but a message that hits home so clearly when written so simply.”
