A New Spiritual Journey

Assalam o Alaikum friend,

The Sunnah Family is embarking on a new journey together. Before I share with you some of the important details, I want to share with you the “why” of it. Well, the “why” for me, my intentions and my motivations.

My Why

A few things have happened in our lives over the past few months. In so many ways, everything has been uprooted, flipped to all sides, moved to another location, and then been made to shove itself in the ground with such force that our roots are still struggling to find their way through. From this new angle, we see things a little differently. We see the permanence of death and the impermanence of every thing else. We see that we claim to own something but really, we can not even own our own bodies. We see that people in our lives are meant to be passengers for a time in this world and, should they be believers, insha’Allah the reunification will happen in a realm unlike anything that we have ever seen. And we see that indeed our bodies are going to be buried whether we are willing or unwilling.

Through this viewpoint, the world looks different. Our realities feel shifted. It is as if we had been viewing through a blurred vision this entire time and a visit to an optometrist have given us another chance to see the colors for what they are. And through the passage of days and weeks since then, dust has settled on our new glasses once again.

Our hearts were raw when my mother-in-law died. The weeks before were gruesome, painful, shocking, and completely unexpected. As Allah ﷻ tells us in the Quran after swearing by time: we are in grave loss.

وَٱلْعَصْرِ – إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِى خُسْرٍ – إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ

By the ˹passage of˺ time! Surely humanity is in ˹grave˺ loss, except those who have faith, do good, and urge each other to the truth, and urge each other to perseverance.
[Quran, 103].

There are certain unquestionable truths in this world which even those who deny the existence of God can’t ignore. One of which is that time is limited. It runs out much faster than we realize. It flies by and before you know it, the landscape of our lives is entirely different.

You see, friend, after we realize that time is limited and that we are in grave loss, Allah ﷻ reminds us to urge each other to the truth and perseverance.

This is why we are doing this together. I want to tell you as someone who has seen another’s time come to an end just a short while ago: Your time, our time, is coming to an end. So instead of being steeped in misery and being lost in the superficial glitter and glamour of this world which leaves us exhausted at the end of the day, let us make this short time enjoyable. Not the YOLO-throwing-our-money-in-things-binge-watching-netflix-until-bedtime-so-called-enjoyable. But the kind of joy that begins inside the soul and radiates through the limbs. Which makes the heart beat faster and eyes well up with tears. Which makes us long for a Meeting much higher than anything we can conceive in our limited imaginations. The joy that colors the world a little differently and gives us constancy and certainty even as … we are ruthlessly uprooted, left hanging in the air without any supple ground in sight. That unwavering faith and love for the Divine. That kind of joy.

Don’t you crave it too?

Alhumdulillah that Allah ﷻ in His infinite Mercy knows that we long for it and so He helps us get there with the most minute effort from us. There is only requirement: Sincerity.

Let’s start the best journey of our lives, towards Allah ﷻ, with longing, sincerity, and determination.

About: TO THE HIGHEST COMPANION

The goal of this is simple: To scrape off the dirt that has been blocking our spiritual vision by adding and polishing spiritual habits according to the sunnah of our beloved messenger ﷺ.

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Verily, when the servant commits a sin, a black mark appears upon his heart. If he abandons the sin, seeks forgiveness, and repents, then his heart will be polished. If he returns to the sin, the blackness will be increased until it overcomes his heart. It is the covering that Allah has mentioned: No, rather a covering is over their hearts from what they have earned [83:14]”
Sunan al-Tirmidhī 3334

How:

“To the Highest Companion” is a multi-part journey where we will make new personal goals every two weeks. I will present you with a focus category and you will choose realistic goals that you can add to your daily life pertaining to that focus. We will have an opportunity to work on those goals together for the two weeks before adding on a new focus category for another two weeks. This will continue over 8 weeks where we will cover the following four categories, insha’Allah: Istighfar, Salah, Qur’an, and Dhikr.

In short: Over the next 8 weeks, we will gradually add on new goals every two weeks into our daily spiritual habits.

Accountability:

Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه said, “Hold yourselves accountable before you are held accountable and evaluate yourselves before you are evaluated, for the Reckoning will be easier upon you tomorrow if you hold yourselves accountable today.”
Muḥāsabat al-Nafs 2

Before beginning a new focus category, you will recommit to this journey and share with me your goals. At the end of each two-week period, you will reflect on the previous category. I will have a dedicated space for those reflections insha’Allah and your words will be kept private.

In short: There will be a check-in at the beginning and end of every two weeks.

Recommendations:

I will be using the following three items* to aid me along this journey. You are welcome to get these to follow along with me or use any of your personal resources to keep track of your progress insha’Allah:

Crowning Ventures Planner & Journal: I will create and plan all of the goals under each category in this planner using the monthly and weekly layouts. The Islamic quotes will be my personal motivation guides reminding me of our sisterhood. Additionally, I will be checking this daily to address the weekly worship tracker and keep track of my daily to-do’s. You can view the inside of the planner here in my instagram highlights.
Faith and Focus Daily Planner: This planner will be used as my way of organizing my day and for dua + reflection. I love the second page of the daily spread on this planner and the split task layout of the first day. Insha’Allah this will be my desk companion daily where I will plan out the goals according to the salah times and reflect in the morning and evening. You can see a detailed look of this planner inside in this highlight.
“In the Early Hours” by Khurram Murrad: This book is my guideline for this journey together. It helps to formulate proper intentions and acts as a teacher to help us follow the path while avoiding the pitfalls. This is an incredible read and I recommend this regardless of your participation in this challenge.

* some links may be affiliate links. the planners + journals were sent to me as gifts for previous instagram campaigns but the respected companies are not associated/involved with this journey.