As the Hijri year ends, let us reflect on our personal accomplishments and desires for self-improvement as an ummah. Nothing like refining our focus and recommitment to our deen to rejuvenate our faith once again.
Weekly Writes written by Umm Idris. 27.06.25, 12:00pm.
As our ummah approaches the end of our Hijri year, this pensive writer sits quietly in front of her laptop in contemplation. Much of it is to wonder about what I have accomplished in this past year that warrants a satisfied commendation for my efforts. Like many of you, I look to my list of yearly resolutions and hopeful goals that I wished to achieve last year. Have a satisfactorily completed them? Did I prove myself more productive in the past year? Was I tenacious in my self-improvement and attaining levels of success that I dreamt of?
As much as I want to scramble for what little small accomplishments or milestones I surpassed, I can safely admit to myself that “I can certainly do better.” The truth is very much the same for so many of us. We believe what we can or have achieved is sufficient but we know deep down that there is more to strive for. Especially in our aspect of the deen. How many of us can safely admit to ourselves that we can afford to drop even more hours of doomscrolling, couching surfing on the tv, and limiting our worldly entertainments even further? I know I certainly must admit that there is much for me to improve on.
Rather than the zombie consumption of watching reel after reel or binge-watching another random show on tv, that time could be delegated to the more traditional and soul replenishing habits. Perhaps adding more reading time to my days, diving even deeper into learning about seerah, or even internalising more tafsirs, hadiths and fiqh. What I have come to realise upon reflection is that in this dunya, it is so easy to get distracted and drained by our days that we look to instant gratification that have little meaning to our akhirah. As we slump down on the couch in exhaustion after running around with our children, freshly spent from work and finally full with homecooked food, we give into our lethargy and charge our spirits with empty laughter over jokes on tv or watch others live their lives on social media. For those who have excelled against this… hats off to you. It is never easy to fight our nafs.
I wonder how many of us are ending the hijri year feeling guilty of our shortcomings in our ibadah? Like many other pregnant women, I wonder if our bodies have defeated our spirits so much so even reciting the Quran has us gasping at the long verses while we struggl to recite for longer periods as our backs whine against the strains of extended sitting. I contemplate about the hopes I had to try to memorise more surahs and perfect the ones I have, the desire to finish the Islamic books I bought and the wish I had to be more actively invested in daily, and oh so much more.
In hindsight, there were pockets of hours that could have made it all possible. The good news is, as long as Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) grants us more time, we have the opportunity to do better and to strive for better. As the month of Muharram begins, I urge my sisters and brother in our beloved ummah to begin planning the start to another year’s effort to be better Muslims. Not just in this dunya but for our akhirah. Commit once again to fulfilling our starving hearts that crave for us to fortify and rejuvenate our deen. Write down what you resolve yourselves to achieve once again, and fight hard against giving up or giving in. Pick up the Quran even before the new year begins, start the habits of nafl prayers and sunnah prayers where you can so that when Muharram begins, you hit the ground running.
Life is short, unpredictable, frightening, and full of trials. Where we can find peace, we should fight to keep it. In a world where we are prepared by our Creator that the tests coming for us will be testament to our faiths, the easiest of evils should be the ones we abolish quickly before it devours our resilience.
Ask yourselves…
“What do I want my 1447H to look like?”
“Who do I want to see in the mirror at the end of it?”
“What do I want Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) to see when He looks down upon me?”
“What kind of days will assure my heart of my effort to enter Jannah?”
Take it a day at a time. Believe that no small achievement is too little. Even the small daily charity to be kinder to your sibling is a feat for many who struggle in with their relations. As an anonymous writer, I am comfortable to be the first to share three of my many hopeful goals of jumpstarting my deen once again.
- I want to be able to commit to tahajjud every night from this coming year forward.
- I want to try my best to commit to the sunnah days of fasting (Monday, Thursday, the white days, etc).
- I want to increase my children’s exposure to the Quran through my own daily recitations even if it is just Al-Fatihah, the last two verses of Al-Baqarah, the Ayatul kursi,or the three Quls before bed.
In these three goals, I tell myself that perfection in completion is not as important as consistency. Habits are created when done regularly more than it is in the perfection of its execution. As a person who fixates excessively in doing things the right way or the perfect way, this is my weakness and test. So ask yourselves in your process of creating these goals what your weaknesses and foreseeable challenges are and you will find yourself understanding where you may have gone wrong or where you might have been facing a hurdle. In Sha Allah, in doing so you will find victory in your achievements.
As we enter the new hijri year, I humbly thank those who have quietly reached out to me, the few who stayed around for my content, and the many who challenge me to think deeper about the world. I pray that you succeed in your efforts of self-improvements and that each step you take from now forth will only take you closer to Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) and grant you the open doors to His Jannah.
Amin.
The Hayaa Oasis 
What do you think?