Abū Dharr رضي اللّٰه عنه Said: “My Khalīl (intimate Friend, I.e. Rasūlullāh) ﷺ Commanded

Alina Zhytielieva

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) said,

"Then your hearts became hardened after that, being like stones or even harder..."

[سورة البقرة (٢) : ٧٤]

Al Baghawī (رحمه الله) said,

وإنما لم يشبهها بالحديد مع أنه أصلب من الحجارة, لأن الحديد قابل اللين, فإنه يلين بانار [...] والحجارة لا تلين قط

"and Indeed He [Allah] did not liken it [i.e, the hardening of the hearts] to Iron even though it is harder than stones, because Iron is susceptible to softness [i.e, structural change] For Indeed, it softens with fire [...] and stones do not soften ever."

[معالم التنزيل في تفسير القرآن (تفسير البغوي)]

-

إن موسى (عليه السلام) كان يقول في دعائه

Indeed Mūsā (عليه السلام) used to say from his supplications

اللَّهُمَّ لَيِّنْ قَلْبِي بِالتَّوْبَةِ، وَلَا تَجْعَلْ قَلْبِي قَاسِيًا كَالْحَجَرِ

"O' Allah soften my heart with tawbah [repentance] and do not make my heart hard like a stone."

[كتاب الزهد لأحمد بن حنبل]

Next Semester Checklist

These are things I personally need/recommend to all my fellow uni people! This can also go for high schoolers :)

Writing Supplies

1. A pack of pastel highlighters (or 2)

2. Good gel ink pens (Papermate Inkjoy, FIOVER .5mm, Sharpie S Gel, etc)

3. White out pens

4. Mechanical pencils (of course)

Paper Wise

1. Transparent sticky notes/ pastel sticky notes

2. Annotation tabs

3. 5 subject college ruled notebooks (cute colors)

4. Yearly planner (stay organized honey)

5. Cute notecards for studying

6. Personal white board and markers

7. Desktop planner (with cute stickers that are pink of course)

8. Journal

9. Budget planner

Misc.

1. Portable tap light thing

2. Organizers

3. Tote bag

4. Laptop

5. HDMI cord & laptop charging cord

6. Pencil case (pink <3)

7. Tape

8. Scissors

9. Paper clips & thumb tacks

10. Calculator

11. Ruler

12. Rubber bands

13. Desk organizer

14. Stapler & staples

[Reported by Ibn 'Abbās in Marfū' form]

The Prophet (ﷺ) said,

إِسْمَحْ يُسْمَحْ لَكَ

"Be gentle [1],

and gentleness shall be rendered to you."

[1] Easygoing, Forgiving

[سلسلة الصحيحة]

Explaning it,

Manāwī said,

"Deal with Allah's creation who are [all] dependent upon Him and so are His slaves with gentleness [i.e, forgiveness] and ease. [and] their Master [Allah] will render the same to you in this Dunyā and Akhirah."

[كتاب فيض القدير]

Shaykh Uthaymeen رحمه الله said :

❝Supplicating for your parents during the Taraweeh or Tahajjud prayer is better than slaughtering 10 camels on their behalf.❞

‎[Al-Liqā Al-bāb Al-Maftūḥ, no. 115]

The prophet Muhammed (pbuh) said: The best of houses is the house where an orphan gets love and kindness"

finding & knowing your worth. ᥫ᭡

i wanted to take some time and talk about self-worth. this is something that was extremely difficult for me to find and realize for myself, but as i look back on my life and reflect on my growth, i’ve found myself truly knowing my own worth. of course, i still have those days that are more difficult than others, but i’ve been able to quickly pick myself back up. why? because i know my worth. i want to share a few things that have helped me realize that for myself, so i hope this post is able to enlighten you. ㅤ♡

let’s begin …

୨ৎ — lose interest in outsider opinions

in simpler terms: stop caring. i kept asking myself, “why do i care so much about what others are thinking of me?” and then i came across a couple quotes where one said, “if you wouldn’t trust their advice, why would you take their criticism?” and the other said, “i would never want to trade lives with someone who hates me.” those two quotes really stuck with me because it reminded me that those people who didn’t have a good opinion of me were the same people i needed to stop caring about.

so what if someone didn’t like me? that person is either no longer a part of my life (for good reason) or they don’t know me in the ways that my loved ones or my own self do, so why should what they have to say or think about me matter?

i knew myself better than anyone, so whatever anyone had to say about me shouldn’t have bothered me, and i let it stop bothering me. i also realized that as my day goes on and i find myself not thinking about what someone said, i tell myself that it wasn’t even worth a single thought in the first place because, clearly, it doesn’t bother me anymore!

if it won’t matter to you in 5 years, don’t continue to give it any more of a meaning.

୨ৎ — stop seeking validation

to piggyback off of my previous point, seeking outside validation is 1. not worth your time and 2. pointless. other people should never be the ones who define your worth. you have to seek validation from yourself. nobody else has a right to tell you whether or not you’re worthy.

i was always looking for validation from others, and it made my own journey to finding myself even more difficult. there were so many different opinions about me that i kept hearing, and it made me feel lost. it felt like i was getting further and further from truly discovering myself and feeling like i was worth something.

i had to pretty much force myself to seek validation within myself rather than from anyone else. it was hard, but the longer i kept searching for some kind of worth to others the more miserable and empty i felt.

୨ৎ — self reflection

time to bring out that journal, babe. we’re going to write about ourselves.

no, seriously, take some time to reflect on yourself. look within yourself and understand yourself a bit more. getting to know yourself and taking the time to focus on yourself can help you figure some things out and even bring you one step closer to truly knowing your worth.

prompts for reflection:

what are 3 characteristics about your personality do you like about yourself? why?

what are your strengths? how do those things about you make you a better person?

what’s your favorite thing(s) about you? how would they compare to what a loved one would say about you?

what are the things that weigh you down? what can you do to lift that weight off your shoulders?

how have you changed within the last 3 years? what about you has changed that you’re really proud of?

self reflection has helped me grow so much. i’ve learned so many new things about myself and it’s helped appreciate myself way more. you’ll be surprised at all the things you find about yourself, and guess what? one of those things will be your own worth.

୨ৎ — surround yourself with positivity

the people who you surround yourself with will play a huge role in how you feel about yourself. i spent too many years surrounded by people who made me feel like i was never enough, and i continued to keep the same kind of people around. i was sick of it. i was tired of being mistreated and feeling betrayed. those people made me feel miserable and they only ever brought me down rather than lifted me up.

even the media i consumed didn’t help me. i was always so focused on comparing myself to those instagram models and tiktok girls who looked nothing like me, and it made me feel worse about myself. even watching videos or shows that brought me down made my esteem drop too.

it’s important to surround yourself with people and media that make you feel good, that lift you up, and that help you feel confident because that kind of good treatment is what you deserve! you shouldn’t have to submit yourself to negativity, it only makes you feel worse and it’ll continue to get worse the longer you keep those things and people around.

now that i have people in my life that make me feel genuinely loved and cared for, i feel like i can offer that same energy those people give me to myself! it really makes a huge difference who your close circle consists of, so make sure those people are people who are genuinely and unconditionally there for you.

୨ৎ — final notes

if you do need a reminder: you are worthy, and you always have been! finding and knowing your own worth is no easy feat, but the journey you’ll go on to discover it and implement it into your life will be so extremely worth it. i promise!

you will always be more than enough, and i hope you can continue to remind yourself of that. treat yourself with genuine love and kindness, and don’t ever take yourself for granted. you have achieved so much and you have so many things to offer in life. you may not see it now, but once you do, you’ll see just how beautiful and bright your own light is.

with lots of love, faustina 🌷