Yasmin Mogahed Quotes

Never curse a fall. The ground is where humility lives.

~ 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

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

Deprived is the one who has never witnessed his own desperate need for God. Reliant on his own means, he forgets that the means, his own soul, and everything else in existence are His creation.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

The human currency of praise is Monopoly money. It feels great for a moment to collect, but when the game is over, it's worthless.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

Speak your heart. If they don’t understand, the message was never meant for them anyway.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

The mind replays what the heart can't delete.

~ 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

Tear your heart out of your chest. And hand it to God. There is no other healing. I swear, there is no other healing.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

[A Letter to the Culture that Raised Me] I'm not here to be on display. And my body is not for public consumption. I will not be reduced to an object, or a pair of legs to sell shoes. I'm a soul, a mind, a servant of God. My worth is defined by the beauty of my soul, my heart, my moral character. So I won't worship your beauty standards, and I don't submit to your fashion sense. My submission is to something higher.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

Loss, is the returning of what never actually belonged to us in the first place.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

If given a choice between stoic justice and compassion, I choose compassion. And if given a choice between worldly leadership and heaven at my feet—I choose heaven.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

Allah loves His creation. That’s why He rewards so greatly for serving them.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

Sometimes, the ocean floor is only a stop on the journey. And it is when you are at this lowest point, that you are faced with a choice. You can stay there at the bottom, until you drown. Or you can gather pearls and rise back up — stronger from the swim and richer from the jewels.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

It’s never easy to stand when the storm hits. And that’s exactly the point. By sending the wind, He brings us to our knees: the perfect position to pray.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

Tawakkul is having complete trust that Allah's plan is the best plan.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

With my veil I put my faith on display—rather than my beauty. My value as a human is defined by my relationship with God, not by my looks. I cover the irrelevant. And when you look at me, you don’t see a body. You view me only for what I am: a servant of my Creator.You see, as a Muslim woman, I’ve been liberated from a silent kind of bondage. I don’t answer to the slaves of God on earth. I answer to their King.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

And while it’s nice of you to want to call us ‘modern’ or ‘moderate,’ we’ll do without the redundancy. Islam is by definition moderate, so the more strictly we adhere to its fundamentals — the more moderate we’ll be. And Islam is by nature timeless and universal, so if we’re truly Islamic — we’ll always be modern.We’re not ‘Progressives’; we’re not ‘Conservatives’. We’re not ‘neo-Salafi’; we’re not ‘Islamists’. We’re not ‘Traditionalists’; we’re not ‘Wahabis’. We’re not ‘Immigrants’ and we’re not ‘Indigenous’. Thanks, but we’ll do without your prefix.We’re just Muslim.

~ Yasmin Mogahed

In his mercy, He sent the storm itself to make us seek help. And then knowing that we’re likely to get the wrong answer, He gives us a multiple choice exam with only one option to choose from: the correct answer. The hardship itself is ease. By taking away all other hand-holds, all other multiple choice options, He has made the test simple.It’s never easy to stand when the storm hits. And that’s exactly the point. By sending the wind, He brings us to our knees: the perfect position to pray

~ Yasmin Mogahed

The enduring life is the one that begins once we awaken from this world. And it is in that awakening that we realize… It was only a dream

~ 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

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

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

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

~ 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

They say you don’t get over someone until you find someone or something better. As humans, we don’t deal well with emptiness. Any empty space must be filled. Immediately. The pain of emptiness is too strong. It compels the victim to fill that place. A single moment with that empty spot causes excruciating pain. That’s why we run from distraction to distraction—and from attachment to attachment.

~ 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

Know that transformation sometimes begins with a fall. So never curse the fall.

~ Yasmin Mogahed