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Ramadan Reflections: Day 16 Nafs Hack with Nourah Samarkandi
Nafs Hack: Timing with Zhikr Assalamu alaikum! My name is Nourah Samarkandi, and this is my Nafs Hack for today. I like to do stretches in the morning. Normally, people time themselves with a timer when they’re doing stretches, but I like to time myself by saying Azkar Al-Subah. For example, when I do one move I say Surah Al-Falaq, and for the next move I say Surah An-Nas. This way, I remember to do my stretches and my azkar. You can apply this to any exercise you normally do. I hope this helps you remember to say your azkar during this Ramadan.
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 14 Nafs Hack with Amin Aaser
Nafs Hack: Intentionality I was 24 years old, I come home, and my mom looks at me, she says, ‘Amin, I need a grandchild.’ The problem was I wasn’t even married, so I was like, ‘Mom, c’mon.’ But what that meant for me was that I needed to find my wife. So, I took it with the same level of seriousness that I do everything else in life. I created a PowerPoint presentation, created an Excel spreadsheet, started thinking about all of the things I needed to find in my wife, and alhamdulillah I found her. When I did, I remember going to jummah and meeting one of my teachers,…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 13 Nafs Hack with Nancy Khalil
Nafs Hack: Mandatory Vs. Optional When I was in college, I worked with a team to organize logistics for a very large Muslim college students’ retreat that was taking place in Boston. It was the first of its kind. I spent months organizing with my team, and a few weeks before we were supposed to go on the retreat, the option for me to go to Hajj emerged. I struggled. I didn’t want to let the committee down. I didn’t want to let the retreat down. I wanted to go on it with my friends, but Hajj is a really big deal. So, I talked through it with a friend,…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 10 Nafs Hack with Hamdy Radwan
Nafs Hack: Be Grateful for Your Food Assalamu alaikum. My name is Hamdy Radwan, and I am the vice chair of the board of trustees for Islamic Relief USA. This is my Nafs Hack. There are some people that are not as privileged as you are, and they may be short of food. I heard some stories coming from Africa recently. The mother and the father gave their kids the option to eat either in the morning or in the evening because they couldn’t afford two meals a day. I’m not saying that to feel bad about them because Allah (SWT) is the provider, and he provides everyone with his…
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IRUSA Hosts Iftar with US Department of Agriculture
An opportunity to break bread with government officials in charge of administering food policies remains one of Islamic Relief USA’s longest running annual rituals. On May 9, we were especially pleased to sponsor an iftar with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was the eighth consecutive year that IRUSA sponsored the annual USDA event and the 11th straight year the USDA haled the annual interfaith event. More than 100 people were in attendance, a cross section of faith leaders, representatives of elected officials, farmers, and friends and family of USDA and IRUSA staff. Mike Beatty, acting director of the USDA Office of Partnership and Public Engagement, said he…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 8 Nafs Hack with Mariama Badjie
Nafs Hack: Do it with Ihsan Assalamu alaikum! My name is Mariama Badjie, and I’m here with today’s Nafs Hack. When I was a freshman in high school, in my AP world history class, my teacher called on me and he asked me, do you think the Roman empire would have been what it was if Julius Caesar never existed? And I said no, Julius Caesar was amazing or infamous—however you want to look at it. But what he did wasn’t irreplaceable. I stopped and I said, well, maybe, maybe if he didn’t do what he did, someone else would’ve. And he said exactly. This is a concept in history.…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 7 Nafs Hack with Khalil Ismail
Nafs Hack: Strategizing Gratefulness Assalamu alaikum, and peace to everyone. This is Khalil Ismail with your Nafs Hack. I wanted to talk about strategizing gratefulness today. I think one of the most important things, maybe the most important thing that we have that we can hold on to, regardless of what happens in this life, is gratefulness. And what strikes me about gratefulness is that in the Qur’an when Allah (SWT) talks about the story of Shaytan wanting to take us off the path of worshipping him, and Shaytan basically says that he is going to get us from the left, from the right, from the back. He basically says…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 5 Nafs Hack with Isra Chaker
Nafs Hack: Daily Gratitude Journal I’m a civil rights activist, and I’m here today with Islamic Relief to give you your next Nafs Hack. Now, we all live in a life where we are constantly busy and being pulled in many directions and are facing tribulations while also overcoming them. And sometimes we realize that we don’t ever stop and breathe for a second and think about all the things we are actually grateful for and the things that we are blessed with. And so my nafs hack I do on daily basis personally is I wake up every morning and I write down five things that I’m grateful for…
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Ramadan Reflections: Day 4 Nafs Hack with Amani Abdel-Dayem
Nafs Hack: Live with Intention Assalamu alaikum, everyone! My name is Amani Abdel-Dayem, and I’m here for your Nafs Hack. So, my Nafs Hack for you today is for productivity in intention and niyyah. Whenever you have anything to do, from the menial to the major—whether it’s wuduh, salah, cooking dinner, starting a project, or visiting a friend—make sure that you have an intention. Make sure that you’re focused on the outcome that you’re looking for and the why that you’re doing what you’re doing. And, all of a sudden, the quality of your work, your visit, whatever it is that you’re doing, your salah will change dramatically for the…
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RAMADAN REFLECTIONS: DAY 3 NAFS HACK WITH SAID DURRAH
Nafs Hack: Sustainable Fasting Assalamu alaikum. I’m comedian Said Durrah, and this is your Nafs Hack. Today, I want to talk to you about the difference between what I call sustainable fasting and silly fasting. Sustainable fasting, if you’re able to fast, is what you’re supposed to do—you know, no food, no water and so forth—but silly fasting is the people that want to go to extremes. Don’t be that person. That’s the person who tells you, “Oh, I just got an internship at this bakery. It’s going to be great for Ramadan. It’s really going to test me. It’s really going to push me to my extremes.” Why would…
