“Love. It is the reason there is something instead of nothing. It is from the soil of love that all of existence blossoms into being.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“God’s mercy is greater than your sins or circumstances. His compassionate love embraces the cactus parts of you that you swear no one could hug. His grace celebrates the parts of you that nobody claps for. God loved you before you were even created, before you even knew of Him. As the Qur’an says, “It is He who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers, that they may add faith to their faith for to Allah belong the forces of the heavens and the Earth and Allah is full of Knowledge and Wisdom” (48:4).”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Awakening to faith is not a one-time event, but a continuously unfolding reality. The journey of faith is not a race, but a marathon of love that each person walks at a different pace.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“REMEMBER: Prayer is not about punishment or reward; it is about cultivating a genuine connection with God. The deep purpose of prayer is not to obtain a certain outcome; rather, it is about having an intimate conversation with your Lord.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love Journal: Insightful Reflections that Inspire Hope and Revive Faith
“Prayer, then is a means of undressing the ego of its superficiality and coming to the Divine presence with all of our neediness and humility.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love Journal: Insightful Reflections that Inspire Hope and Revive Faith
“How can I not love what love Himself made? How can I not love what is love? You are love, because love can only come from love.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Someone once asked a spiritual master, “What is the end of the path?” The master replied, “The path has no end because the Beloved has no end.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love Journal: Insightful Reflections that Inspire Hope and Revive Faith
“The human being was created for something more than just living and dying by our egos and desires. Like granite, our egos are transformed and purified by the heat of worldly trials and friction into the precious ruby of the spirit. We were not sent to this Earth to achieve something, but rather to become what we have always been—a mirror for the divine qualities of Allah. We were created to know, love and worship Allah through purifying our hearts and becoming representatives of Allah’s mercy upon all of creation without discrimination.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love Journal: Insightful Reflections that Inspire Hope and Revive Faith
“As Rumi says, “Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” As Muslims we are called to guide one another, advise one another and to celebrate one another. The Qur’an’s command toward “enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong” (Qur’an 3:104) is not an excuse for judging and shaming each other. As my teacher once said, “If you can’t counsel someone from love, then don’t counsel them because if you advise others from a place of judgment then you are fostering the quality of arrogance within you.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love Journal: Insightful Reflections that Inspire Hope and Revive Faith
“As Muslims we can advise one another from love, but the role of the Divine Judge, Al-Hakam, is purely reserved for Allah alone. As Muslims we can’t be harsh with the creation and expect the Creator of that creation to be soft with us. In fact, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tells us, “The merciful will be shown mercy by the Most Merciful. Be merciful to those on the earth and the One in the heavens will have mercy upon you.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love Journal: Insightful Reflections that Inspire Hope and Revive Faith
“As the thirteenth-century mystic Ibn Ata’ Allah Al- Iskandari says, “Don’t think you are veiled from Allah by something that is not Allah. There is nothing besides Allah. You are veiled from Him by the illusion that there is something other than Allah.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love Journal: Insightful Reflections that Inspire Hope and Revive Faith
“A shopkeeper had an assistant whose eyes were crossed and thus saw everything double. One day, the shopkeeper asked his assistant to grab a one-of-a-kind, expensive jar of rose water from the storeroom for a special customer. The assistant ran to the storeroom, only to return moments later and ask, “I see two jars, which one would you like me to bring?” The shopkeeper impatiently sighed, as he had grown accustomed to such questions. The shopkeeper decided to try a new tactic with his assistant so he said, “Break one of the jars and bring me the one that’s left!” The assistant apprehensively followed the shopkeeper’s orders and broke one of the jars, which of course caused “the other” jar to break too.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love Journal: Insightful Reflections that Inspire Hope and Revive Faith
“As an anonymous writer once said, “The light at the end of the tunnel is not an illusion, the tunnel is.” The declaration of la illaha illa Allah is a reminder that all shapes and forms are like a mirage before the face of God. Allah is the only Truth, Al- Haqq. As the mystics say, “The World is not Allah but there is nothing else but Allah.” Nothing moves without Him. Nothing lives and exists without Him. Allah’s spirit or ruh, was blown into the dead earth of humankind to give us life. We live because of Al-Hayy, The All-Living. We see because of Al-Basir, The All-Seeing. We hear because of As-Sami,’ The All-Hearing. Everything we are mirrors the beauty of our Lord. We are because He is.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love Journal: Insightful Reflections that Inspire Hope and Revive Faith
“When Allah makes us aware of a sin we committed, He is not punishing us, but rather inviting us toward His presence. In this way, the moment we are drawn to sincere repentance, we are in effect unveiling the forgiveness that Allah has already written for us to experience. Someone asked the great eighth-century mystic Rabia Al-Adawiyya, “I have sinned much; if I repent, will Allah forgive me?” She profoundly replied, “It is the opposite; if Allah forgives you, you are capable of repentance.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“The principles of Islam teach us to be messengers of peace—to be like water, gentle enough to wash away tears and strong enough to drown hatred. To be Muslim is to protect the weak, the orphan, the beggar, the disabled of all races and cultures. To be Muslim is not to be color-blind, but to see the differences between people and to celebrate that diversity as a product of the free will that God chose to give us. As the Qur’an says, “And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Indeed, in that are signs for those of knowledge” (30:22)”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“The worst thing we can do is think that something we’re feeling is so wrong and horrible that we isolate ourselves from God, thinking we’re not worthy of being in His presence. We must remember that Allah doesn’t expect us to be perfect; after all, our sense of self-worth is not dependent on us, but on God. When we bring our poverty, our neediness, and our nothingness to God, He meets us with His generosity (Al-Karim), His ability to satisfy all needs (As-Samad), and His richness (Al-Ghaniy). Just as if you want light in your room you must open the blinds, if you want the shadows and dark places in your being to dissolve, you have to open your heart to the light of Allah. In essence, all of existence is just a reflection of the light of God’s grace manifesting into different forms.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“As long as your heart is beating, you have a purpose. God is intentional, so He does not keep anyone on Earth that doesn’t have to be here; if we are blessed with more life, it is because someone in the world needs us. If we are alive, it means that what we were sent to this Earth to create has not yet been accomplished.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Mystics throughout time have said that they believe in God like they believe in light, not because they can see light, but because through it they see everything else.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“In Arabic, the word fitna, meaning “hardship,” stems from the word fatanah, which means “to test gold, burn with fire.” Just as gold is heated to extract valuable elements from the useless surrounding material, it is through the fire of our trials that our golden essence is unearthed.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“In my early twenties, I was traveling through a small town in Turkey called Cappadocia, when the divine spark of faith reignited within me like lightning. All it took was my eyes to fall upon a woman who was drowned in her worship of God. I watched her pray in an old seventeenth-century animal barn, as if nothing in the world existed but her divine Lover. She did not robotically repeat words of prayer like a formula; rather, every word she uttered came with a silent “I love you, my beloved Lord.” Her words were like synchronized dancers swimming in unison in the ocean of love that poured out of her. She was the first person I had ever seen in my life that not only prayed but she herself became the prayer.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Just as it takes a baby nine months in the belly of its mother to develop, the moon many nights to become full, and a caterpillar weeks in a cocoon to become a butterfly, through entering the womb of Ramadan and fasting the entire month, our faith transforms.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Death begs us to anchor our happiness not on what is fleeting, but rather on Allah, whose love is eternal and unchanging. Death reminds us that the only thing that is real and unchanging is God. Everything else in existence, whether it be good or bad, will eventually perish. As the great Tibetan master Jetsun Milarepa poetically said, “The sound of thunder, although deafening, is harmless; the rainbow, despite its brilliant colors does not last; this world, though it appears pleasant, is like a dream; the pleasures of the senses, though agreeable, ultimately lead to disillusionment.”
“The Qur’an is not a destination or wall—it is a window. It does not call us to it, but rather calls us to look through it and toward the mysterious essence of God that animates everything in existence.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“The prophets are like different rivers throughout time that all pointed to the same ocean of unity.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Just as clouds cannot affect the presence and power of the sun’s light, but can alter our experience of the intensity of the light, sin can veil our perception of our inner goodness, but it cannot change it.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“It is not our prayer and worship of God that makes God love us; rather, it’s God’s unconditional love for us that results in our worship. We do not pray for the love of God, but from the love of God. God’s power inspires and allows us to pray, and it’s that same divine power that we are calling to in prayer. As Rumi says, “I am a mountain. You call, I echo.”
“Allah's mercy accepts us as we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay the same.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Some linguists say that the word Allah is based on the word waliha, which translates to a love that is so passionate and ecstatic that it completely transcends the senses. This implies that to know God we have to surrender our minds, everything we are, and everything we know in exchange for love, because self-surrender to divine love is the only path to God.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“When we remember who God is, when we praise and magnify Him, when we come needy and desperate for His forgiveness, we actualize who we truly are beneath the weight of our sins. Repentance is letting go of our baggage, because we understand that by Allah’s mercy we are not defined by our past. As the mystics say, “The ocean refuses no river,” so how could an infinitely merciful God refuse any sinner? We are not worthy of God’s forgiveness because of our repentance, but because God’s mercy embraces all things, including our sin. This is why the mystics cleverly repent to Allah by saying: “Oh Allah, plead on my behalf with Yourself, do what is worthy of You, not worthy of me!”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Islam is not a path about obtaining God’s love; it is a path that teaches you to strive, persevere, and unveil what you have already been given. Islam is not just a series of practices and actions; it is a light that helps grow the seeds of our most authentic selves. Islam is not merely outward obedience to Divine Law; it is a cultivation of inner faith. It is not only about celebrating what is right and standing up against what is wrong; it is about bringing mercy, beauty, and excellence to our words, thoughts, actions, and deeds. Islam is the path of showing you how to become who you already are.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Just as a stone that is dropped anywhere in a lake creates ripples that reach across the entire body of water, when one of us is suffering, that pain ripples through all of existence. As Rumi said, “The differences are just illusion and vanity. Sunlight looks slightly different on this wall than it does on that wall and a lot different on this other one but it is still one light.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“The eternal destination of others has no effect on how Muslims are called to treat the creation of God. Our love, respect, and honor toward others should not be contingent on someone’s faith or belief system, but on our faith. Since we believe every single person was created by God and is continuously sustained by Him, the life of every human being is infinitely priceless, regardless of what they believe or seek in this life and the next.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Although it is true that what we sow in this life we reap in the next, if we reduce the existence of the Afterlife to just punishment and reward, we will miss the soul of the message. Heaven and Hell are not only physical manifestations, they are also states of being that reflect what it feels like for the spirit to be close to or distant from the Divine. In essence, Heaven and Hell are like mirrors that reflect back to us our soul’s relationship with God.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“We are called not to just read the Qur’an—but to become a manifestation of its message. We are called to be a mercy to all the creations of God, by bringing light where there is darkness, feeding the hungry, forgiving those who wrong us, taking care of the orphans, being generous to the needy, being kind to our parents, and through sincere worship becoming a vessel of God’s unconditional love for the entire world.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“God does not love you just because of who you are; He loves you because love is who He is. So never stop praying. Even when the pain is too much to bear, even when you have broken a thousand promises, even if all that comes out is a silent whisper that only God can hear. No matter what storms you are facing, no matter how bad you mess up, no matter how painful life becomes, the door to prayer is always open for you. After all, as Imam Ali said, “When the world pushes you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Your blessings, your trials and triumphs, your journey of falling and rising, your gifts and talents—they are all connected. Your true calling is held in the arms of your deepest wounds. God only breaks you to remake you, because breakdowns come before breakthroughs. Everything that God has written into your path was meant to prepare you for this exact moment. God wants you to come as you are, not as you think you should be.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“It suddenly became clear to me that the whole purpose of faith is not to be “good enough” before we begin on the path to God, but to come with all our deficiencies to God, knowing that only He can fill in our gaps through His mercy.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“As the ninth-century Persian mystic Imam Junaid said, “A Muslim is like the earth; even if impurities are thrown on it, it will blossom into a green pasture.” We are called to be like a date tree, so rooted in the love of God that when people throw stones at you, you reply with fruits that taste sweet. Do not live your life in reaction to what people have done to you, but live your life in gratitude for all that God has done for you.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“You do not own yourself to dictate what price you are worthy of being sold. Stop pricing Allah’s merchandise.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“God gave every single one of us unique abilities and talents, and based on what He gave to us, He will evaluate us. God does not grade us on a curve, He compares us to ourselves. Our work on Earth is to receive and cultivate the gifts given to us by God for the benefit of the entire creation. As Pablo Picasso said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“The Qur’an does not just lead us, it liberates us from the grips of the ego. It does not just guide us; it helps us grow past the shells of our limiting beliefs. It does not just confront us; it consoles us with God’s infinite mercy. It reminds us of our holy purpose, of how incredibly valuable we are in the eyes of God, and inspires us to live a life not simply based on our present limited capacity, but to trust that when we depend on God all things are possible by virtue of His infinite and all-encompassing power. The Qur’an is not meant to only be recited, it is meant to be taken in like the fragrance of a rose, deep within our essence, allowing it to permeate in the deepest recesses of our being. The Qur’an was sent as a pathway of return to God. As the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “This Qur’an is the rope of Allah, and it is the clear light and healing. It is a protection for the one who clings to it and a rescue for the one who follows it. It is not crooked and so it puts things straight.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Words have power, which is why Imam Ali says, “Speak only when your words are more beautiful than the silence.” After all, everything in existence sprouted from the vibration of the divinely uttered word “Be! And it is” (36:82). So remember, your tongue is like a knife; it can either kill like the sword of a samurai or save like the scalpel of a surgeon.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Just as love cannot be seen or truly known, but is undeniably felt, we can experience our Lord in places our mind could never travel or comprehend. Seek out these placeless places, where the unknown resides. Reflect upon the mysteries of life, travel into spaces with no familiar ground, venture into realms where worldly compasses fail to lead you, walk into the quantum world, where laws of science seemingly fail to work, and feel the vulnerability of your ignorance.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“When the world goes to sleep, God is the One who is awake with you. God sees the tears you hide with smiles and He embraces the pain you think no one would understand. “Not even an atom’s weight in the heavens or the earth remains hidden from Him” (34:3).”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Allah is the forger of time, the molder of space, the weaver of souls, the turner of hearts, the One who creates everything in stages yet is beyond the limits of time. Life is created from His breath, the cosmos forms from the vibration of His speech, and love is birthed from the womb of His mercy. He is the One who said, “Be!” to the vast nothingness, and existence sprouted into being. His words inspire light to break the darkness of nothing into the dawn of life.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“We do not pray, fast, or give charity because Allah needs it, but because our spirits need to be in the presence of the Divine light to blossom. We are seeds, we are infinite potential hidden in the garden of a body, waiting to awaken through the mercy of Allah’s light.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love Journal: Insightful Reflections that Inspire Hope and Revive Faith
“We are all born with spiritual wings, Islam simply reminds us how to fly.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“Allah's compassionate love embraces those cactus parts of you that you swear no one could hug. His grace celebrates the parts of you that nobody claps for. You were loved by Allah before you were created, even before you were born.”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam
“The hole we carry inside, that we so desperately long to fill, comes from the experience of once being unified with all of existence. After all, how can you long for oneness if you have only ever been a separate body? How can you long for perfection if you have never experienced it? How can you long for an all-encompassing love if you have never tasted it?”
Source: Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam