Salams world!

I’m so thrilled! InshaAllah Sheikh Nuh and his wife Um Sahl are arriving on Thursday! I’ve waited a year for this, and subhanAllah, what a year it’s been. So much has happened, and alhamdulilah, I’m so relieved that I’m in a much better place now.

My health issues have stabilised, and I’m looking forward to my trip to Jordan on the 23rd of June. Seeing my team of health care providers has really helped, alongside attending my weekly dhikr gatherings. Healing isn’t complete when it’s just the medical. There’s the spiritual side that needs nurturing too.

I’m currently catching up with friends and spending time with family. A year ago, I couldn’t have been able to imagine the general state of internal peace I’ve been blessed with. Verily, after every hardship, there is relief! Seeing old friends from med school is also so lovely…they’ll be interns in a matter of months. I’m so proud of how far they’ve come. It’s a journey I stepped away from, but here’s to my own version of a bright shiny future. My friends will all be incredible doctors. Caring, competent and insightful. Wonder what I’ll be?

I can’t wait to embark on the Shifa Summer Program in Jordan! It’ll be a welcome break after my YEARS of secular education. My decision to put medical school on hold has still ruffled a few feathers, despite my own state of contentment. It’s puzzling when spectators to my life are upset when I’m not! Strange, strange.

Sheikh Naeem raised an interesting point in one of his lectures. He said that the Muslim ummah is in desperate need of saviours to lead us out of the darkness of ignorance….but our best minds have been sent to study Medicine at Harvard because their parents want comfortable retirements. Sad, but true. Chasing after material wealth will never bring lasting contentment. Sure, we do need Muslim doctors to respond to the unique spiritual needs of Muslim patients, but it’s a sad day when Muslim parents are devastated when their children stop medical school to become scholars instead. And it happens.