Yasmin Mogahed Quotes & Sayings

Time for solitude. God, I ask you to remake my heart. Fill it with what You love. Remove from it what You don't. And mend what I've broken. — Yasmin Mogahed

Oh external worshiper, know that worship without heart is motions. Oh seeker of knowledge, know that knowledge without purification is a dangerous weapon of the ego. Oh activist, know that work without orientation of heart is fruitless. Oh lover, know that love without God is pain. — Yasmin Mogahed

You can't run in more than one direction at a time. And you will only run in the direction you are facing. So if your heart is facing anything other than Allah, it isn't Him you're running towards. — Yasmin Mogahed

The Dunya is like the ocean and our heart is like the ship. If a ship allows the water to enter, it will sink. Just like when we allow the Dunya to enter our heart. — Yasmin Mogahed

Let your heart go Home, even before your body arrives. — Yasmin Mogahed

Before anything can break your heart, it must first own your heart. Stop handing your heart to dunya-it'll stop breaking it. — Yasmin Mogahed

We hold on so tightly, because we're terrified of loss. We hold on till our hands bleed. And in that self-shattering persistence, we fail to see the answer: Just let go. — Yasmin Mogahed

When you have friends, don't expect your friends to fill your emptiness. When you get married, don't expect your spouse to fulfill your every need. When you're an activist, don't put your hope in the results. When you're in trouble don't depend on yourself. Don't depend on people. Depend on Allah. — Yasmin Mogahed

Sometimes I think life's only mission is to bring us to our knees ... the perfect position to seek God. — Yasmin Mogahed

The worst part of getting close to someone is the part when you have to miss them. — Yasmin Mogahed

If you allow dunya to own your heart, like the ocean that owns the boat, it will take over. You will sink down to the depths of the sea. You will touch the ocean floor. — Yasmin Mogahed

There's a special place in my heart for the ones who were with me at my lowest and still loved me when I wasn't very loveable. — Yasmin Mogahed

At the time of death your tongue will speak only what is in the heart.To say la illaha illa Allah, you must live it. — Yasmin Mogahed

My sisters, let's tell 'fashion' we love Allah more! — Yasmin Mogahed

This life will never be without storms. Stop fearing the storm. Build your inner shelter. — Yasmin Mogahed

If you want the love of the people, stop running after it. The more you chase it, the more it escapes you. Love doesn't come from the people. It comes from God. — Yasmin Mogahed

You never have to be scared of the trials but of standing alone in the trials without shelter (Allah's help). — Yasmin Mogahed

Yes, the heart breaks. But, it also heals. — Yasmin Mogahed

I am always shocked to discover how many people believe that hardships are a punishment from God! When people face tests or see others facing tests, they assume Allah must be angry with them. SubhannAllah! Remember which people were tested the most: The Prophets! And they were the closest to Allah. Every hardship is good for you-if it brings you closer to Him! — Yasmin Mogahed

If you want to know what's Real, of love, of life, of loyalty, put it through the greatest test: Time. — Yasmin Mogahed

The nature of the dunya as a place of fleeting moments and temporary attachments. — Yasmin Mogahed

Do not say that every day you spend on this earth is a day closer to dying. Every day you spend on this earth is a day closer to finally living. — Yasmin Mogahed

We are told in the Quran: " ... whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And God hears and knows all things." (Qur'an, 2: 256) There is a crucial lesson in this verse: that there is only one hand-hold that never breaks. There is only one place where we can lay our dependencies. 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. — Yasmin Mogahed

The secret to happiness is to never make it dependent on that which can be taken away — Yasmin Mogahed

Don't let this Ramadan be just a holiday of rituals. Don't finish reading the Quran without it transforming you. Don't feed your body at suhoor, but starve your heart of Qiyam. Don't reduce this downpour of mercy to just a month of sweets and lavish iftars. Seek Him, you will find. Take a sincere step towards change, transformation, redemption. If you do, you will find Him in front of you. Find Him this month. He's been there all along. Closer than your jugular vein. Look and you'll find. Walk and you'll arrive. — Yasmin Mogahed

I know you feel worn and tired. I know you're tired of failing. Rest, but don't stop. You can do this. You got this.
Not because you're strong, but because He's your strength. — Yasmin Mogahed

We need to put our full hope, trust, and dependency on God, and God alone. And if we do that, we will learn what it means to finally find peace and stability of heart. Only then will the roller coaster that once defined our lives finally come to an end. That is because if our inner state is dependent on something that is by definition inconstant, that inner state will also be inconstant. If our inner state is dependent on something changing and temporary, that inner state will be in a constant state of instability, agitation, and unrest. This means that one moment we're happy, but as soon as that which our happiness depended upon changes, our happiness also changes. And we become sad. We remain always swinging from one extreme to another and not realizing why. — Yasmin Mogahed

Your heart is sacred land. Don't let just anything enter it. Guard it with your life. — Yasmin Mogahed

Just as storms change the landscape of the earth, our hardships change the landscape of the heart. — Yasmin Mogahed

Your worship is not a gift from you to God. It is
a gift from God to you. — Yasmin Mogahed

Speak your heart. If they don't understand, the message was never meant for them anyway. — Yasmin Mogahed

It is in that which you love the most that you find the greatest tests. — Yasmin Mogahed

Everything in this life is only a glimpse of the real thing. Love, beauty, pleasure, even pain in its true essence is only in the next. — Yasmin Mogahed

Maybe the brokenness comes to teach you how to kneel. Stop trying to 'be strong'. We cry, to heal. We feel, to stay human. — Yasmin Mogahed

If there is one recipe for unhappiness it is that: expectations. — Yasmin Mogahed

Let your former selves teach you, but never limit or define you — Yasmin Mogahed

Leaving the people and places you love, is a reminder of the impermanence of this life. And the permanence of the next. — Yasmin Mogahed

Hope shouldn't increase with good deeds and decrease with sin. In good deeds, my hope is for Allah to accept. In sin, my hope is for Allah to forgive. — Yasmin Mogahed

Allah loves His creation. That's why He rewards so greatly for serving them. — Yasmin Mogahed

Sigh ... I have learned that *everything* is so hard ... except what Allah makes easy. So we must *beg* Him to make it easy on us. — Yasmin Mogahed

When someone hurts you, your first thought may be to wish you had never met them at all. But remember that even those who've hurt you, came into your life for a reason, and left for a reason. It's for the best and healing starts with acceptance. — Yasmin Mogahed

Break in the hands of God, He'll unbreak you. Break in the hands of people, you'll remain forever broken. Break to no one, your heart will remain hard. — Yasmin Mogahed

If you want this life to stop breaking your heart, stop giving your heart to this life. — Yasmin Mogahed

Tell this imprisoned soul that it will never be owned. Nothing will ever own you. But God. — Yasmin Mogahed

There is meaning in all things. But are you paying attention? — Yasmin Mogahed

Let the love of Allah heal you. And free you. — Yasmin Mogahed

Don't you think there's a problem when we live in a society that considers a woman's greatest accomplishment being pretty for a man? — Yasmin Mogahed

This pain in your heart was created to make you yearn less for this life. And to yearn more for jennah. Allahu akbar — Yasmin Mogahed

Sometimes you search so hard for words. You look for a way to interpret the language of this heart and the unspoken bond you feel. But in the end you are left with nothing but silence. And deep down you hope it's understood. — Yasmin Mogahed

My value as a woman is not measured by the size of my waist or the number of men who like me. My worth as a human being is measured on a higher scale: a scale of righteousness and piety. And my purpose in life-despite what fashion magazines say-is something more sublime than just looking good for men. — Yasmin Mogahed

Love isn't supposed to torment you. If it does, there's probably something wrong. — Yasmin Mogahed

I'll tell you the only way to survive: Ask God to place a semi-permeable shield around your heart: One that only allows what He loves to enter. — Yasmin Mogahed

So often it hurts us that we are not able to focus in our prayers. Remember, the more you focus on Allah outside your salah, the easier it will be to focus on Him inside your salah. What occupies you in salah, is what occupies you outside of salah. Try to fill your mind and heart with Allah as much as you can throughout your day. Talk to Him, make duaa to Him constantly. This will build your personal relationship with Him. Then, going to salah will be like coming home to an old friend. — Yasmin Mogahed

The sin of Kibr (arrogance) is actually worse than many of the sins that we would be advising [other] people about. — Yasmin Mogahed

Don't ever be afraid of giving. Give. Give of your time, your forgiveness, your understanding, your love. Give of your money. Give to the creation, and you'll be given by the Creator. Be generous, and the Most Generous will be generous with you. — Yasmin Mogahed

When your failures surround you, and all the open doors have closed, look up. There's a door that never closes, a way, when all the other ways have failed you. — Yasmin Mogahed

When talking about marriage, Allah says your spouses are garments for you. A garment may or may not fit perfectly-but either way, it covers imperfections, protects, and beautifies. — Yasmin Mogahed

Never curse a fall. The ground is where humility lives. — Yasmin Mogahed

Study the hurtful patterns of your life.
Then don't repeat them. — Yasmin Mogahed

Seek those who help you hear your own heart. — Yasmin Mogahed

Shaytan will tell you that you're not worthy, so give up. But his traps are based on lies. When was any of it because of *your* worth? It was all because of His mercy, His generosity, His love of giving, and forgiving. And those qualities don't change because you're messing up. Just seek them. Call Him by His mercy, not by your deeds. — Yasmin Mogahed

Allah gives us gifts, but then we often become dependent on those gifts, instead of Him. when He gives us money, we depend on the money - not Him. when He gives us people, we depend on people - not Him. when He gives us status or power, we depend on, and become distracted by these things. when Allah gives us health, we become deceived. e think we will never die. — Yasmin Mogahed

Happiness, sadness, loss and gain all pass away. What they do to us is what remains. — Yasmin Mogahed

Everything we do is motivated by love. Even fear and hate are born of love. So be careful what you love. — Yasmin Mogahed

If you wonder how you'll get through this new heartbreak, just think back. Remember all you've been through in the past. And how each time you swore, you'd never get through it. But you did. And look where you're at now. This too shall pass! — Yasmin Mogahed

Beauty attracts beauty. If you want to know what you are, look at what you are drawn to. — Yasmin Mogahed

Keep praying, even if you have only a whisper left. — Yasmin Mogahed

So often we think that Allah only tests us with hardships, but this isn't true. Allah also tests with ease. He tests us with na'im (blessings) and with the things we love, and it is often in these tests that so many of us fail. We fail because when Allah gives us these blessings, we unwittingly turn them into false idols of the heart. — Yasmin Mogahed

To empty the heart does not mean to not love. On the contrary, true love, as God intented it, is purest when it is not based on a false attachment. The process of first emptying the heart can be found in the beginning half of the shahada (declaration of faith). — Yasmin Mogahed

Single moment in a string of infinite moments ... and that they too shall pass. — Yasmin Mogahed

No one will be with you forever in this life. The door will always be swinging open and closed. Love the people who enter. Let go of the people who leave.
Don't hang on. — Yasmin Mogahed

Worry is a direct consequence of relying on your own efforts. — Yasmin Mogahed

I have so much respect for the emotionally brave. The ones who put in the emotional work and take the real risks of being vulnerable and removing masks. It's easy to make chitchat, but it's hard to speak about what's really under the surface. It's easy to joke, but difficult to cry. It's easy to numb, but hard to feel.
Ironically the real victims of emotional laziness are the people themselves. They end up choosing their emotional comfort zones over happiness. So in the end, they may not be 'uncomfortable' anymore; but they are also miserable. — Yasmin Mogahed

For a wound to heal, you have to clean it out. Again, and again, and again. And this cleaning process stings. The cleaning of a wound hurts. Yes. Healing takes so much work. So much persistence. And so much patience. But every process has an end and an appointed term. Your healing will come ... And like all created things, your worldly pain will die. — Yasmin Mogahed

We should not weep for the arriving soul - It isn't dead. We should weep instead for the one whose body is alive, but whose soul is dead because of its alienation from that which gives it life: God. — Yasmin Mogahed

After years of falling into the same pattern of disappointments and heartbreak, I finally began to realize something profound. I had always thought that love of dunya meant being attached to material things. And I was not attached to material things. I was attached to people. I was attached to moments. I was attached to emotions. So I thought that the love of dunya just did not apply to me. What I didn't realize was that people, moments, emotions are all a part of dunya. What I didn't realize is that all the pain I had experienced in life was due to one thing, and one thing only: love of dunya. — Yasmin Mogahed

The body has many needs. But the soul has only one: to be with God. — Yasmin Mogahed

When you're in trouble don't depend on yourself. Don't depend on people. Depend on God. — Yasmin Mogahed

She was a queen, yet saw through the thrones and palaces of this world. — Yasmin Mogahed

If you study your own struggles, the struggles of others, even in movies or novels you'll see the root of all their suffering is always attachments — Yasmin Mogahed

Sometimes people have nothing to say because they're too empty.
And sometimes people have nothing to say because they're too full. — Yasmin Mogahed

She stood up. Something inside her had changed. "It was finally time," she thought.
It was finally time to leave the past in the past. And move on.
She took her first step. It felt like walking for the first time. It was strange to not be chained anymore.
It felt like life. Like hope. Like happiness. — Yasmin Mogahed

Salah is the first thing we will be asked about on the Day of Judgment, and yet it is the last thing that is on our mind. — Yasmin Mogahed

Sometimes the gifts of God aren't wrapped as we expect. — Yasmin Mogahed

Be the moon in somebody's night. Be the yusr (ease), in somebody's usr (hardship). — Yasmin Mogahed

To run to anything else is to resist the irresistible. To seek other than The One (al Wahid), is to become scattered, but never filled. How can we find unity, completion of heart or soul or mind in anything other than Him? — Yasmin Mogahed

Some feel lonely because they haven't found that perfect 'companion' yet. Sometimes Allah sends everyone else away so you can find that only in Him. — Yasmin Mogahed

My Nafs screams out for what it desires. But my will to be free screams louder. — Yasmin Mogahed

Be grateful for the wound that pushes you towards God. — Yasmin Mogahed

Tawbah is the cleaning of the heart, dhikr is the feeding of the heart. — Yasmin Mogahed

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

The worst prison is not made of metal bars. The worst prison is when your internal reality does not match your external reality. — Yasmin Mogahed

Your beauty is in your sensitivity. Don't let anyone take it from you — Yasmin Mogahed

There's a time for words and a time for silence. If you're listening, you'll hear the difference. — Yasmin Mogahed

This world cannot break you - unless you give it permission. And it cannot own you unless you hand it the keys - unless you give it your heart. And so, if you have handed those keys to dunya for a while - take them back. This isn't the End. You don't have to die here. Reclaim your heart and place it with its rightful owner:
God. — Yasmin Mogahed

However the problem wasn't with the vase, or even that the vases kept breaking. The problem was that I kept putting them on the edges of tables. — Yasmin Mogahed

Sometimes we make duaa for a door of dunya. When it doesn't open, we cry. Not realizing that Allah has instead opened a door of jennah for us. — Yasmin Mogahed

Like Musa you too will be saved from the Sea. Just look through it and see Him. Then the illusion will crumble and you'll be left with the only Reality: Him. — Yasmin Mogahed

T]here is no other purpose of my existence except to know, love and get closer to God. This is the one and only reason why I was created. And this is the most essential realization, as it defines everything else I do or believe. It defines all things around me, and everything I experience in life. — Yasmin Mogahed

Don't grieve at the stab.
It's only meant to free you.
From the chains that bind you to the earth
and shackle you to the shadows of people.
The mirage of water cannot quench.
But is so beautiful to the thirsty.
I'm afraid. Of never knowing another life.
Different. So different.
If I let go, will You take me higher?
Above grief, want, loss.
Above all that I've ever known.
Take me higher. Unbind me from the earth.
Like a vaccine, it sickens, to make you stronger.
The stab is temporary. The freedom, eternal. — Yasmin Mogahed