July 27, 2024 • 47 mins
Join us in this episode as we welcome Sofia, host of the 'Women of Ihsan' podcast. In our conversation, we explore Sofia's insights on the meaning of Ihsan, the importance of striving for excellence in our faith, and how Muslims can transcend mediocrity in their spiritual lives. Sofia also shares her thoughts on decolonizing the mind, the impact of Western values on our Islamic worldview, and the significance of collective responsibility within the Muslim ummah.
Timestamps:
01:31 Defining Ihsan and Its Importance
02:00 Striving for Excellence in Faith
03:31 The Concept of Ihsan in Daily Life
13:04 Decolonizing the Mind
15:25 Impact of Colonization on Muslim Identity
22:46 Challenges Faced by Muslims in the West
25:27 The System is Not Broken
25:43 Understanding a Colonized Mind 28:51 Personal Responsibility and Awakening
31:40 Role Models in Gaza
About Sofia:
Sofia, with over 15 years of experience as a translator and project manager, she decided to change her career path to become a Certified Professional Coach to serve the community.
She is passionate about helping high-achieving Muslim women design their ideal faith-centered lives so they can thrive in alignment with their Deen.
Sofia is a French Moroccan living in Germany with her husband and three children.
Connect with Sofia:
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Listen to the Podcast:
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Connect with Mifrah Mahroof:
🏖️ This episode is sponsored by Sisters Explore, a company I founded to offer guided small-group travel for Muslim women to connect, explore, and enjoy faith-centered journeys. Learn more at http://www.sisters-explore.com
Disclaimer: Some links in this description are affiliate links.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Asalamu Alaikum everyone andwelcome to the Muslim Life
(00:02):
Hackers podcast.
I'm your host Mifrah Mahroof andin today's episode we're going
to be having on Sofia from theWomen of Ihsan podcast.
So a bit about Sofia.
Sofia has a background intranslation and project
management, spending 15 years inthis space.
She decided to change her careerpath and become a certified
professional coach to serve thecommunity.
(00:23):
So she's passionate abouthelping high achieving Muslim
women design their ideal faithcentered lives so that they can
thrive in alignment with theirdeen.
she's a French Moroccan livingin Germany with her husband and
three children.
So I hope you enjoy this episodeand without further ado, let's
get started.
Mifrah Mahroof (00:38):
Asalamu alaikum, Sofia.
Welcome to the show.
Sofia A. (00:41):
Waalaykumu salam wa-raḥmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Jazakallah khairan.
Thank you for having me.
Mifrah Mahroof (00:46):
Well, thank you for coming on.
One of the things that I'mfamiliar with you and about your
work is that you're actually ahost of this podcast called the
Women of Ihsan.
So you've actually been runningthat for how long?
Sofia A. (00:56):
So we a started the podcast when I say we, it's me
and the guests.
Mifrah Mahroof (01:02):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (01:03):
So I launched it at the end of December.
I started a little bit earlierdoing the recordings, but it's
officially launched at the endof December 2023.
Alhamdulillah.
So it's been over six monthsnow.
Mifrah Mahroof (01:15):
Oh, nice.
It's always a pleasure to meet afellow podcaster and actually
put them in the side of a guestand, be able to learn more about
them.
So I'm excited to have you on.
So the first question thatreally comes to mind is coming
from your podcast itself.
So you have that women of Ihsan.
So how would you actually definethe term Ihsan and what does
that mean to you?
Sofia A. (01:37):
Oh my, so you are basically you're throwing my
question at me now.
Mifrah Mahroof (01:41):
Yeah, I'm really
Sofia A. (01:42):
there is no,
Mifrah Mahroof (01:43):
this word goes around a lot in like the Muslim
space, the Islamic personaldevelopment, be a person of
Ihsan.
So what does that actually mean?
Sofia A. (01:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
and you know what, this is oneof the questions I ask my guests
all the time.
What
Mifrah Mahroof (01:54):
Oh, really?
Okay.
Sofia A. (01:55):
to strive?
Yes.
What does it mean for you tostrive and become a woman of
Ihsan?
So first of all, we are allstriving.
It's not, we are not saying,okay, the podcast is called
women of Ihsan, but we're not,we are striving.
We are trying to raise the barhere because I think one of our
problem as a Muslim community ingeneral, wherever we are in the
(02:16):
world, we haven't raised the barin terms of our deen.
What I mean by that is we arehappy with mediocrity when it
comes to our deen.
Because when you look at howmuch efforts we put in our
careers, in having a nice home,having a nice family, getting
our kids in the best schools,getting the best of this dunya,
(02:38):
but when it comes to ourworship, oh my God, I pray five
times a day.
Alhamdulillah that's it.
Like you see what I mean?
The bar is so low, we put it solow.
Subhanallah, may Allah forgiveus.
And when I say that I speak formyself, like you come, at the
end of the day, you drained andwhen you look back, well at
(02:58):
least I prayed on time,Alhamdulillah, that's it?
Is that it?
who would be happy in a job,like imagine you're the manager,
and your team, they're justdoing the bare minimum.
Like, they're just ticking theboxes.
What kind of work environment isthat?
What kind of progress are yougoing to do?
If you're just ticking theboxes, Oh, okay.
(03:19):
Yeah, I came at eight.
Okay.
I'm here at eight.
Oh, okay.
I took my lunch and I had to dothis.
Okay.
And nothing more, just the bareminimum.
When are we going to exceedexpectations here?
So first of all, for me, Ihsanis putting Allah at the center,
again, because He is anyway.
(03:39):
It's just that we are not aware,but He is.
So working on our mindset isreally just, taking the time to
reflect on your life because wedon't know how much time we have
left
Mifrah Mahroof (03:53):
Yeah, that's true.
Sofia A. (03:54):
when it's over, we go back to him.
We are alone in our grave and westand alone before him.
So what is it that we are goingto present?
And so Ihsan is, there aredifferent layers to that,
different aspects, differentdimensions to ihsan.
So obviously it's about yourbehavior.
Your behavior with people, likehaving good character, akhlaq,
(04:18):
like the Prophet SAW.
He's our role model foreverything.
Having good relationships withpeople, being an ambassador of
Islam, behaving yourself in agood way that you are not,
staining Islam with your badwords or your bad behavior, bad
ethics, lacking of integrity andso on and so forth.
Being generous, being good toyour parents.
(04:40):
This is all, what our beautifuldeen teaches us.
So Ihsan is definitely the partof that.
all that you can see, but it'salso, and I think it's even more
important, everything we can'tsee.
It's about purifying the heart.
It's about Ihsan is really,about getting rid of everything
(05:04):
that you don't want to find inyour book when you stand before
Allah SAW.
And Allah, He knows yourthoughts and He knows what's
happening in your heart.
Nobody else.
So it's really, having all ofthese dimensions and it's not
easy.
That's why we are just striving,we are trying, but at least we
know, okay, now I'm going toraise the bar here.
(05:24):
I'm not just, okay, from theoutside, I'm wearing my hijab, I
ticked the boxes, I prayed fivetimes, I fasted my Ramadan, and
that's it.
And then you have all of thesediseases of the heart.
You're jealous, you're envious,you're arrogant.
You have like every time you dosomething good, you're like,
wow, look what I did, maybe notout loud, but inside of
(05:47):
yourself, you have this selfadmiration, which is a disease
of the heart.
So how you go about it, islearning your religion, like
seek knowledge, knowledge.
Just do not be content with thebare minimum.
Try to go, like you do that foryour job, like you do that for
your studies, whatever you like,anything you own, like you want
to have a nice car, you just,you're not going to have like
(06:08):
this old, you know, a rusty car.
You want something nice.
The same with what's inside ofyourself and your relationship
with Allah SAW.
Trying to upgrade that
Mifrah Mahroof (06:20):
yeah,
Sofia A. (06:20):
in a nutshell.
Mifrah Mahroof (06:22):
Yeah.
so would it be that you'reconstantly not happy with where
you are and you just keepstriving?
Like you just keep improvingyourself?
is that how it would look like?
Sofia A. (06:32):
So I think we have to be very careful here
Mifrah Mahroof (06:36):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (06:36):
between not being happy with ourselves and falling
into despair.
Mifrah Mahroof (06:42):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (06:43):
Like, Ihsan is also getting back on your feet, when
you fall or when you feel lowand never give up and never fall
into despair, because this isone of the trick of shaitan.
And so not conflate perfectionwith excellence.
We're never going to be perfect.
If we are looking forperfection, we're never going to
(07:03):
get it.
We are going to burn out andthen maybe just give up on
everything and just, go back toour lowest standards.
Mifrah Mahroof (07:12):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (07:12):
It's about finding this quote unquote balance
where, you know, the one who canjudge you is Allah SWT.
And at the same time, he's alsogenerous and compassionate he
doesn't gain any fee inpunishing you.
So it's also being kind toyourself, like, you are trying
(07:34):
your best and just having Allahin mind as much as possible is
already being above average.
Mifrah Mahroof (07:42):
Right.
Sofia A. (07:42):
look at humanity as a whole, who thinks about Allah at
all, like you have to be abeliever first.
So Alhamdulillah, we are alreadyin the few, but then we want to
be better, not just, okay, Ithink about Allah when I pray
five times a day, and even thenyou're not focused.
(08:03):
You're just, the rituals and yourush for your Salah and you get
it done.
We also trying to have thisconnection.
And that's why Dhikr is soimportant.
Like outside of Salah, trying tohave this moment where you make
dhikr, where you reflect uponcreation, like just having this
child, approach to life, beingcurious and being amazed, not
(08:28):
being like, Oh yeah, yeah, thesky is blue.
Yeah.
Oh yeah, the sun is shining.
Like, subhanAllah, like peoplewho don't believe in God, they
take this for granted.
They don't see any miracle inthat when everything is a
miracle of that around us,everything is a sign.
And so it's really like, when Isay having this mind shift is
look at Allah first.
(08:48):
He's the creator of all of this.
He put this on your path so youcan have a look at it, and being
grateful.
So by being grateful for all ofthese blessings but we can never
count our blessings and thinkingI'm the beneficiary, like I'm
the receiver of all of this,like this good feeling that you
have.
(09:08):
It should outweigh negative,maybe, the negative emotions you
get when you think about all ofyour shortcomings.
Because Allah, He didn't createus to be perfect.
The angels, they're alreadyobeying Him.
But He created a human being whocould make mistake and return to
him and this is the best like weknow from the tradition of the
(09:28):
Prophet SAW That all of thechildren of Adam they are going
to make mistakes but the best ofthem are those who return to
Allah SWT who ask forforgiveness and they return to
him.
So what does it mean beingaware?
I am now aware.
I make mistakes.
My goal in life is not stop,like, obviously, I want you to
(09:49):
make less mistakes.
I don't want to come and domajor sins, that's a given.
But we are still going to fall,we will always have
shortcomings.
Mifrah Mahroof (09:58):
hmm, that's
Sofia A. (09:59):
And then returning to Allah, returning and returning
all the time.
And as much as you do that, yourrelationship with Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala becomesstronger.
And then this is what moves youforward Insha Allah
Mifrah Mahroof (10:12):
hmm.
I see.
So what I'm hearing is like,Ihsan is more like a verb.
It's like a state of doing,being, striving.
Whereas, sometimes like at leastwe kind of hold ourselves to, we
might be like, I need to beperfect.
And then when that perfection isnot there, it's like, I can't do
Sofia A. (10:31):
It's never going to be perfect.
Mifrah Mahroof (10:33):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (10:35):
a recipe for disaster.
Mifrah Mahroof (10:36):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (10:37):
You're never going to be perfect.
What?
Yeah.
Yeah.
But also the perfection is withAllah SWT
Mifrah Mahroof (10:43):
Hmm.
yeah, that's true.
And I think it's like setting upthat standard for ourselves
makes it hard for us to progressbecause when we can like
actually say, Hey, am I beingconscious?
Am I striving?
Then it's a totally differentmindset to like, have I made it?
Cause like we were evenspeaking, outside of the show
about the concept of making itor striving.
(11:05):
And I guess it goes back to the
Sofia A. (11:07):
Yeah, because the thing is, what is so beautiful
with Allah subhanahu wa ta'alain His generosity, He rewards us
for our efforts, not for theoutcome.
Any outcome, anything you set upto do, any project, anything,
you don't even know, are yougoing to come to complete it?
So either you complete it ornot, whether it was what you
expected or not, the efforts,your intentions, while you are
(11:32):
working towards it, this iswhere you get your reward.
Mifrah Mahroof (11:35):
Hmm.
True.
True.
Sofia A. (11:39):
And that's why,
Mifrah Mahroof (11:40):
a lot of pressure off us, right?
Sofia A. (11:43):
yeah, in the sense that, It's so different than
what we have been used to,
Mifrah Mahroof (11:50):
100
Sofia A. (11:51):
cool.
For instance, they don't look atall the kids, how long they
stayed and learned the lessons,how much efforts it took them.
Like some kids, they have iteasier and we just get the good
grades.
They just look at the grades.
Mifrah Mahroof (12:04):
Yeah
Sofia A. (12:05):
don't look at the poor kid who have been, maybe, the
parents, they hired a tutor,they're spending hours and the
poor kid is just overwhelmedwith everything, but they are
really striving and working,just look at the grade at the
end, okay?
It's not like that with Allah.
He takes into considerationeverything, like the efforts and
(12:25):
the intention, who you did itfor.
And, along the way, if we gothurt as well, we get rewarded
for that.
Mifrah Mahroof (12:33):
it's
Sofia A. (12:34):
so I always say we always win with Allah SWT.
That's the
Mifrah Mahroof (12:38):
Yeah, true.
It's interesting that youbrought up the point about at
school, we always strive to getA plus.
And I know that I've been astudent that was always after A
plus and all the high marks,high achiever kind of thing.
And I know that's makes me, bevery concerned about the result
and to shift that thinking, tobe that no, with Allah SWT, it's
(13:01):
about the effort and it's aboutwhat you keep doing.
Kind of opens up the leeway toone of the other questions that
I also had as well aboutdecolonizing the mind, actually.
And this was something that Itis quite interesting.
It's something that we are allaffected by, especially, myself
and yourself, we grew uplearning from these schools and
(13:23):
we've been influenced by thatand also influences the way we
see the world, which can be alsocontrary to what our Islamic
world view teaches us as well.
So let's discuss more.
What does it actually mean todecolonize your mind?
what does that even mean,actually?
Can you have a colonised
Sofia A. (13:42):
I think a series of podcasts just about that.
So my best to it's
Mifrah Mahroof (13:45):
really
Sofia A. (13:46):
try
Mifrah Mahroof (13:46):
yeah, a
Sofia A. (13:47):
so important, especially in the context that
we are in, with everything.
That's what's been happening fornine months now.
in Palestine, in Gaza.
Anyone who had any doubt beforeabout this western quote unquote
values, which are not valuesbecause they have no value, by
definition.
So I don't know what is theword, which is the contrary like
(14:11):
the opposite of value, becausethis would be the term that we
should use here.
The blatant hypocrisy, thedouble, triple standards that we
see in the world.
I can't get used to it.
I know it is the way it is, butI just cannot get used.
I cannot get over the fact thatas we speak for nine months, a
population of over 2 millionpeople has been starved.
Mifrah Mahroof (14:35):
mm,
Sofia A. (14:36):
Let's just talk about the starving.
Not even the bombing, themassacres, everything else.
Just about the starving, cuttingfood and water for more than one
million children, because halfthe population in Gaza are
children.
They are dying from starvationin front of our eyes, in front
of like, live stream on ourscreens.
(14:58):
How is it even possible to havethat?
When there is abundance of food,water, just a few meters away
from the border, how is it evenconceivable to the human mind
that you are going to leave 2million people starving to death
after bombing their houses,after bombing them and
(15:18):
everything for 9 months?
So really, after being colonizedin Muslim countries last
century.
They left the countries, buttheir influence is still there
and decolonizing the mind isfirst being aware of that.
What you have learned is not thetruth with a capital T.
(15:41):
What you have learned in school,in the history books, or like
chosen by the state, thegovernment, whatever it may be.
These are not always historicalfacts that depicts the truth,
the whole, because if you go andcheck history books, like
written by authors, throughoutthe centuries, which are not
(16:03):
taught in school, then you willsee something very different.
Mifrah Mahroof (16:08):
of course,
Sofia A. (16:09):
Like just one example, like the crusades seen by the
Arabs.
It's very different than thecrusades seen by the crusaders
Mifrah Mahroof (16:16):
mm.
Sofia A. (16:17):
children or grandchildren.
So we need to really wake up andquestion our worldview,
especially if we are Muslims,because we have just taken for
granted everything that we havelearned.
And some of it is really theopposite of what our faith is
teaching us.
Mifrah Mahroof (16:37):
How is it affecting us?
this history, say we learnt itfrom this perspective, um,
Sofia A. (16:41):
It affecting us because their goal is to divide
us.
Mifrah Mahroof (16:47):
mm,
Sofia A. (16:48):
They want to divide us.
They don't want the ummah to beone.
They don't want the Muslims tobe under one banner.
That's why they draw all ofthese lines.
They made several, how do youcall that, when you cut a pie,
Mifrah Mahroof (17:04):
Yeah, like, um,
Sofia A. (17:05):
so they, exactly.
And then they gave you names,like now this is your country,
this is the state that you needto give your allegiance to, and
the neighboring country, even ifactually these are your family,
sometimes your people who werefrom the same region, but now
there is, this line which hasbeen drawn by these foreign
(17:29):
powers.
And now they want to divide.
I'll just give one example,Algeria and Morocco.
They have so many problems, likepolitical, issues between them,
but before this line was drawnby who, by back then it was
their common enemy.
Mifrah Mahroof (17:46):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (17:46):
They were one, and then one day they came and said,
okay, between this village andthis village, now there's going
to be this line.
This is going to be Morocco.
This is going to be Algeria.
You will have your government,and this happened all around,
like in Bilad Sham, um, likeeverywhere in all the Muslim
lands, let's say, I will not saycountry because now country has
(18:07):
the borders that they drawn, sothe Muslim lands and now someone
who is born in Morocco orAlgeria or Tunisia, Egypt, he
says first, okay, I'm Moroccan.
Oh, he's Algerian.
What's the difference?
We are actually, we are one.
And anyone who comes to thefaith and says, La ilaha
(18:28):
illallah Muhammad rasulullahsallallahu alaihi wasallam, he's
your brother, she's your sister.
Doesn't matter what passportshe's carrying.
And so it has affected usbecause now we have taken this
mentality of beingindividualistic
Mifrah Mahroof (18:42):
They're not caring
Sofia A. (18:43):
because and not caring, yeah, the prophet taught
us, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,the ummah is one body.
Mifrah Mahroof (18:50):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (18:52):
And when part of the body is hurt, is aching, then
the whole body has a fever andfeeling like when you see the
ummah now and people wholiterally, they don't care about
what's happening as long as, I'mhappy, I'm comfortable, My kids
are all set, I have my nicehouse.
I have my nice car whateversalary or whatever comes at the
(19:15):
end of the month.
I'm happy.
I can go on holiday.
Here and then I go to themasjid.
They are going to do afundraising I'm going to give
some charity to feel better, tofeel good about myself and
that's it.
Is it what Islam came for?
Mifrah Mahroof (19:29):
Hmm.
So
Sofia A. (19:30):
I don't think so
Mifrah Mahroof (19:31):
believe, that is it.
Sofia A. (19:33):
Yeah, that's why, look at the opulence, it's really
indecent now to look at thewealth that some of these
Muslims, not to name anycountry, or government, and
their brothers and sisters andtheir children are being starved
to death.
How is this even possible?
Mifrah Mahroof (19:51):
So I guess what I'm hearing is that the result
of having a mind that iscolonized is that you start to
just see your relationship withAllah SWT as a very personal
thing, you, your family, and nota collective responsibility,
because if you do start thinkingabout a collective
responsibility, then you'llstart also thinking, what part
(20:11):
am I playing?
Like, how am I contributing tothe ummah?
Because you don't see yourselfas a person of the ummah, you
see yourself as a person of yourcountry, your passport, which
really affects your actions.
Am I understanding it correctly?
Sofia A. (20:28):
Yeah, I'm going to give you another example and
maybe some who are going tolisten to that, they can relate,
some they can't relate, but tosome extent, it describes the
situation.
it might sound for some a bitextreme to give an example of
the French Muslims, but thereare a few millions as well.
So Anyone who's listening tothat, they will very much relate
(20:51):
to that or anyone in Europe,actually, or even in the West.
But in France, religion issomething very private.
You don't discuss religion.
You don't talk about that.
Even if you are Christian orwhatever, it's not something you
talk about in public, likepolitics, religion, something,
or how much you earn issomething you keep that to
(21:13):
yourself.
Okay.
Mifrah Mahroof (21:15):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (21:15):
Muslims in France, they have to keep a low profile.
That's why they are so like thepoliticians, they don't like the
hijab because a woman who wearshijab, she's making a statement.
She's showing her identity as amuslim.
and they don't like that becausethey want to erase religion,
religiosity and everything.
(21:37):
So what you do, and some people,they are okay with that.
This is what I'm saying.
They are with that.
As long as, I get home, I canpray, there are some masjids
that are still open.
Alhamdulillah, I can go there.
I can buy my halal meat.
That's fine.
I'm doing my individual ritualsand that's it.
(21:57):
Alhamdulillah, I'm living myIslam.
Without having this concern thatIslam, you talk about Islam in
the plural.
Surah Al Fatiha is we is askingfor us.
Not asking for just me is guideus to the straight path.
You are the one that we worship,Allah.
(22:18):
It's not about I worship you andplease guide me.
No, it's a collective.
but again, they divided us like,yeah.
So we divided the populations,but we are also dividing the
individuals from their concernfor the greater community.
Mifrah Mahroof (22:35):
Hmm,
Sofia A. (22:35):
and when you do that, you look at the ummah now, and
this is the result that you get.
After a century of not being oneummah, not having a khilafah,
This is what you get.
Everyone in their corner doingwhatever they can consciously,
or most of the timeunconsciously, because it's like
the people, again, to give anexample, like Muslims who came
(22:56):
to Europe or to the UK, UnitedStates, Australia, they were in
surviving mode.
They didn't go because theydon't like their country of
origin.
Mifrah Mahroof (23:07):
hmm.
Sofia A. (23:07):
They went because there was nothing to make a
living, SubhanAllah,unfortunately.
And so they went there and theythought, okay, I'm just going to
adapt.
Because a lot of them, they alsohad very limited knowledge, like
they were not like scholars orstudents of knowledge who left
and went there and started towork in the factories, be it in
France or in the UK or whereverit may be, or in Germany, they
(23:32):
went there and, okay, lowprofile, I'm just going to do
whatever is needed for me to getmy salary and then to feed my
family and give my children abetter future.
Mifrah Mahroof (23:42):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (23:42):
Best case is they came with their Deen and they built
Masajid.
But that's not the case all thetime.
Mifrah Mahroof (23:49):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (23:50):
And that's why you find a lot of Muslims,
unfortunately, they are justMuslim by name.
They're going to celebrate Eidbecause who doesn't want to
celebrate, you know?
Most of them, Alhamdulillah,they are still fasting Ramadan,
but some of them, they even wentaway from Ramadan.
Mifrah Mahroof (24:06):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (24:07):
Women, if they feel like, okay, I can't have a job
if I wear my hijab, Then there'sno hijab, like in France.
Mifrah Mahroof (24:14):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (24:15):
And what is left from your Islam?
Mifrah Mahroof (24:17):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (24:18):
You pray at the end of the day, because in these
workplaces you can't even pray.
So you come back home, and thenafter 5, 6pm, you pray all the
prayers you didn't do, like youpray Duhur, Asr, Maghrib.
In winter you even have to prayIsha.
Mifrah Mahroof (24:32):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (24:32):
What is left?
even if you wanted, you don'teven have the capacity to think
about, beyond yourself.
Even if you want it becauseyou're so drained.
Mifrah Mahroof (24:40):
Yeah.
And we look at that as it'snormal, it's the normal way to
live.
We don't really see
Sofia A. (24:46):
Yeah.
I I can't remember where, orfrom whom I heard that, but it's
really modern slavery.
Mifrah Mahroof (24:51):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (24:52):
know, keeping people to their 9 to 5 or whatever, or
night shifts, or whatever it maybe, like, keep them busy with
how they're going to make enoughmoney to get their bread, feed
their kids, pay their rent, goon holiday, in this hamster
wheel, and everybody's happy.
And behind the scenes, they aredoing whatever they want.
Mifrah Mahroof (25:13):
I've actually heard that as well.
How like the system is designedexactly to extract the most and
we're just left with just tryingto make it every week
Sofia A. (25:25):
Yeah.
I wrote a
Mifrah Mahroof (25:26):
working well for that.
Sofia A. (25:28):
Yeah, and, I wrote a quote the other day and I
thought, my God, this is sotrue.
Some people say, the system isbroken.
The system is not broken.
It's not broken.
It was designed this way.
Mifrah Mahroof (25:38):
And it's working exactly how it's designed.
Sofia A. (25:41):
Exactly.
Mifrah Mahroof (25:42):
Yeah.
And I think even that statement,the system is broken, is like
having a colonized mind.
Like this system is a perfectsystem.
It's just broken because forsomething to be broken, it means
that when it's not broken, itworks perfectly.
Right.
Yeah.
So I think it's veryinteresting.
We have this kind of language,that's a statement I hear
commonly as well.
The system is broken.
(26:03):
So it's like this whole mindsethas really penetrated
Sofia A. (26:05):
by design.
Mifrah Mahroof (26:07):
by design.
Sofia A. (26:07):
broken by design.
Mifrah Mahroof (26:09):
Yeah, but to say anything otherwise makes you
feel like, oh, you're just beinga conspiracy theorist.
You know,
Sofia A. (26:15):
Yeah, it's unpolitically correct.
It's um, yeah.
SubhanAllah.
yeah, SubhanAllah.
May Allah grant usunderstanding.
Mifrah Mahroof (26:23):
and I think it's really important to have this
discussion to actually, point tothat.
Because like you said, the firststep of seeing if you have a
colonized mind is to actuallyunderstand that it's a thing.
And it's a reality and throughunderstanding InshaAllah will
come more awareness and then theactions to get out of that and
go back to Allah SWT.
(26:45):
Allah SWT asks of us andbecoming a person of Ihsan
really, like in our personal, inour collective, in the whole way
Islam has been given to us.
Sofia A. (26:55):
Yeah.
And one other thing,
Mifrah Mahroof (26:57):
we just touched the tip of the iceberg on this
Sofia A. (26:59):
yeah, but one other thing, I think it's really
important and, I will talk formyself and then anyone, if it
resonates, it's just me.
Today, I can talk for myself andsay that Allah SWT, He tells us
in the Quran to come into thedeen and take all of it
completely.
Like whatever it comes fromAllah SWT and His Messenger,
(27:21):
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, youneed to, to say, Sami'na Wa
Ata'na, we heard and we obey.
We don't discuss anything, likeanything which is clear cut.
We have to take it.
But what has happened is, firstof all, we don't know what is
our individual obligations?
We don't know what you'resupposed to do, we don't know
what is expected from us, in theDeen, what Allah is expecting
(27:44):
from us.
And we are happy with living ourwhole life with whatever we
picked up here and there.
And what happens is we missparts of what makes us Muslim.
I don't know if that makessense, but again, thinking
beyond yourself.
You're not just here to serveyour own interests.
(28:04):
Allah put human beings asKhilafah on earth.
We are the representative ofAllah on earth, i.
e.
we are supposed to be doing agood job here.
Not only the good job, we shouldtry to do the best we can
Mifrah Mahroof (28:18):
Hmm.
to
Sofia A. (28:19):
preserve the earth for the next generations, but also
protect any human being on thisearth, not let happen everything
that's been happening.
Mifrah Mahroof (28:29):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (28:30):
you think, oh, okay, no, that's not my
responsibility.
I have no power whatsoever.
Just, whatever the people inpower, whatever they do, I will
just follow.
Mifrah Mahroof (28:39):
the blame to the power, right?
Sofia A. (28:41):
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
Not taking any responsibility.
We all have.
Mifrah Mahroof (28:44):
like, I mean, right now the world is what it
is.
So
Sofia A. (28:47):
Again, I think,
Mifrah Mahroof (28:48):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (28:52):
first, waking up.
It's already huge.
Like just to wake up, and okay,forget the world.
Are you doing your best to saveyourself?
That's the first thing you needto do.
Like save yourself and yourfamily from the fire.
Mifrah Mahroof (29:06):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (29:07):
Allah said in the Quran.
Mifrah Mahroof (29:09):
So that would be the first step.
Check if
Sofia A. (29:11):
First step, are you awake enough that your mission
in life is to save yourself fromthe fire?
Mifrah Mahroof (29:18):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (29:19):
Like when you wake up in the morning, do you think
maybe this is my last day?
And again, I'm guilty of that aswell.
Is this my last day?
If I die today, am I going tosave myself from the fire?
And what have I left for myfamily?
Because they are also includedin that.
What I left to them, is it goingto serve me as well?
Is it going to serve as sadaqahjariah or maybe the opposite?
(29:40):
May Allah protect us.
Mifrah Mahroof (29:41):
Mean?
Sofia A. (29:42):
So first, are you trying to save yourself?
And when you do that, you learnlike you seek knowledge.
You go and listen to what Allahis telling you.
In the Quran, the miracle thatwe have in our homes, the
biggest blessings, one of thebiggest blessings that we have
after saying Lailahailallah ishaving the Quran.
(30:03):
Are we taking advantage of this?
Are we reading the Quran?
Are we trying to understand whatAllah is telling us in it?
Are we learning the life of theProphet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam so that we canunderstand the Quran better
because we can't understand theQuran without the Sunnah of the
Prophet Sallallahu AlaihiWasallam.
Like at an individual level, arewe doing this?
And then the natural consequenceof that is I need to serve a
(30:27):
higher purpose.
It's not just about me.
Mifrah Mahroof (30:30):
Yeah.
So get yourself on that journey.
'cause
Sofia A. (30:33):
Exactly.
Mifrah Mahroof (30:34):
as you keep showing up and you get yourself
on that journey, Allah willguide you and show you the path
in which you can come to thatrealisation on what you should
be doing for the ummah that'sspecial to you and your talents
and what Allah's given you.
Sofia A. (30:49):
Exactly.
Mifrah Mahroof (30:50):
And that's a very
Sofia A. (30:52):
you don't have to figure it out, no one has
figured everything out the firstday, but you need to take that
first step and, after the firststep, then the next step is
going to be clear, becomeevident for you and you'll take
it and so on and so forth.
And then you adjust.
Mifrah Mahroof (31:07):
true.
Yeah, it's an ongoing journey.
I guess it's coming back to whatwe started.
It's like Ihsan is to strive.
It's an ongoing journey.
It's not like one day you wakeup and it's like, Oh, I got it
all figured out.
Sofia A. (31:19):
No, It's never going to be like that.
And we pray that Allah takes usback when we are at our best.
Ameen.
Mifrah Mahroof (31:25):
Ameen.
Ameen
Sofia A. (31:26):
I feel like it's been a bit, a negative talk and so
on, but really it's not, it'sjust, SubhanAllah, it's
Mifrah Mahroof (31:32):
a talk that needs to happen, especially
considering the times that we'rein right now.
Sofia A. (31:37):
yeah.
Because it's so sad,SubhanAllah, it's heartbreaking.
It's just a miracle in and ofitself that our brothers and
sisters in Gaza, they are justholding up.
They are still alive, like theyare still holding on to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
They are such role models forus.
For anyone who's looking for arole model,
Mifrah Mahroof (31:57):
100
Sofia A. (31:58):
look at the people of Gaza.
Mifrah Mahroof (31:59):
percent and
Sofia A. (32:00):
like, from the youngest to the eldest, even the
kids like the eloquence of thechildren like I've seen some
children, SubhanAllah like howthey talk like they are such an
educated people.
They are so connected to Allahsubhanahu wa'ta'ala even now
under the bombs and they haveHalakat, they have Quran
recitation competition under thetents, SubhanAllah, where are
(32:22):
we?
They have their Jumu'ah khutbahand prayers, in ruins.
Mifrah Mahroof (32:27):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (32:28):
Where are we?
Mifrah Mahroof (32:29):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (32:30):
We can't even compare ourselves to them.
Mifrah Mahroof (32:32):
I think what's also scary for me actually is,
as much as it is sad andheartbreaking to see what's
happening, I feel what's scaryis, what's Allah going to ask
me?
all these blessings I have, thiswhole, everything is easy, like
I have safety, security, food,wealth, shelter, everything.
And what is Allah going to askme?
I think that's what scares methe most.
(32:52):
Out of what's
Sofia A. (32:53):
Yeah, well, he's going to ask us, what did you do with
that?
Mifrah Mahroof (32:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sofia A. (32:56):
He's going to ask us, what did you do with that?
You had this safety, you hadthis quote unquote freedom, you
had food, you had comfortablelife.
What did you do with that?
Mifrah Mahroof (33:05):
Yeah Yeah
Sofia A. (33:12):
and look at the people of Gaza.
How many people embraced Islam?
Just looking at them, theirresilience, their unshakable
faith, SubhanAllah.
Prophet Sallallahu AlaihiWasallam, he told Ali, Sayyidina
Ali Radiallahu Anhu.
That if just one person, If youcan guide just one person to
(33:33):
Islam, this would be just such ahuge blessing I'm just
paraphrasing, but being thecause for someone to enter Islam
is better than the whole world.
And look at what they did, intheir suffering in this big,
big, big trial they are in as weare watching them, they have
been able to get all of thisreward for bringing people to
(33:58):
Islam, either people who arecompletely out of Islam or even
Muslims who woke up,Alhamdulillah, because there is
an awakening.
People are waking up becausethey are seeing the blatant
hypocrisy, the lies, andeverything that we've been told,
it was just a lie.
System is broken by design, etc,everything that we've been
talking about.
(34:18):
Alhamdulillah, and they see,okay, this faith, I want to have
that.
Mifrah Mahroof (34:22):
yeah, yeah,
Sofia A. (34:23):
I want to return to Allah with this faith.
Mifrah Mahroof (34:27):
Alhamdulillah, lots to think about, lots to
ponder.
And, unfortunately we're gettingclose to the end of our episode.
So I'm going to go straight tothe questions that we ask all
our guests.
So the first one is, what wouldyou say is one life hack that
has improved your life?
Sofia A. (34:43):
I would say life hack, is not compare yourself with
other people.
We say that the comparison isthe thief of joy, but it is even
more true because, like forAllah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He
looks at us individually.
He looks at me in this presentmoment and He looks at you in
(35:03):
this present moment.
He doesn't compare us.
Again, example of school becausewe all been to school and we all
know, okay, we compare ourgrades and you're better than me
because there's no, like, wedon't know who's better than us.
In the sense that we can, at anygiven moment, we can become this
better person.
I don't know if that makessense.
Mifrah Mahroof (35:22):
Yeah,
Sofia A. (35:23):
in a given moment, when you feel close to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, this isyours.
Nobody can take that from you.
And anyone can have that,feeling close to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, getting to know him,And just having this feeling
that I'm returning to Him, I'mreturning to my Lord, and if He
loves me, I'm safe for eternity.
(35:44):
Having this, no one can, takethis away from you.
And whatever you try, it's work.
Yes, whatever you have in yourheart and your intentions,
because it's only known to him.
Even you yourself, sometimes youconfuse, you don't know, was I
really sincere?
Was my intention just for Allah?
He knows, you know?
So and when I say comparingyourself, what do you mean not
(36:06):
compare yourself?
Allah also says we shouldcompete one another, to do good
deeds.
And, SubhanAllah, when you thinkabout it, what it means is, the
only thing worth competing isgood deeds.
Like, we are competing foreverything, for the dunya, which
is not worth it.
He said, okay, you want tocompete?
Well, compete for what?
is worth and it is goodness formy sake, whatever you do.
(36:29):
And obviously we need to clack.
For instance, we also haveexamples of people, they were
giving Sadaqah, even at the timeof the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam openly to invite and,encourage other people to give,
and then your intention, mayAllah protect us.
It's very difficult.
Sahaba, they did that, but theywere the Sahaba, RadhiAllahu
Anhum.
(36:50):
And even today, sometimes youneed to start an action.
You want to raise money and youneed to show, okay, we are doing
this.
Mifrah Mahroof (36:56):
Alhamdulillah.
Sofia A. (36:58):
do that because otherwise nobody would never
give something.
But, it's really, you have thiscompetition in the good deeds,
but it doesn't mean that, oh,this person, they gave$100,000
they are better than me.
It's not like that.
Mifrah Mahroof (37:13):
not to compare yourself.
So use that as a means to, Hey,I want to do better and I wish I
can be able to
Sofia A. (37:20):
Because the thing, yeah, but the thing is your
potential is different.
Like this person, they have amillion in the bank.
If they can give 100,000 goodfor them.
I don't know, you only have 1,000 and you gave 100, 000.
Well, you actually gave morethan the one who has, the
million in the bank.
and on top of that, you had theright intention, well, actually
(37:41):
you are better than the personwho's so rich and healthy,
wealthy and so on, so becausethere are so many variables to
these equations, and only Allahknows, then you realize at some
point, why am I comparing myselflike you like, for instance, am
I going to compare Okay, let'sdo something completely silly.
Okay, you have a podcast.
I have a podcast.
(38:01):
Am I going to compare now mypodcast with your Podcast.
When you have something tobring, which is completely
different from what I have tobring, you have your own life
experience.
I have my life experience.
What you're bringing, it offersa new perspective.
I have a perspective.
Is Allah going to judge us onthe views?
The likes.
Mifrah Mahroof (38:21):
no, no way.
Sofia A. (38:23):
no, no, you know.
so Again, let's put Allah first.
Mifrah Mahroof (38:27):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (38:28):
Okay, how?
Mifrah Mahroof (38:30):
not to compare and just put Allah SWT first.
Sofia A. (38:33):
Yeah,
Mifrah Mahroof (38:34):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (38:36):
and obviously you need to get this inspiration and oh,
I wish, I could do things betterand, but it doesn't mean that
the person you are looking up toin this particular thing, it
doesn't mean that they arebetter than you.
This is what I want to conveyhere, the message.
It doesn't mean that because,they might be, I don't know,
maybe, successful businesspeople.
(38:58):
whatever.
But then family life is chaoticproblems, or even sickness,
something you have no controlover that.
you don't see the struggles thatthey have.
Maybe they are caring for allthe parents, or maybe even
themselves, you see them smilingand so on, but maybe if you have
a disease and they are fightingwith cancer or another disease
(39:19):
like that, may Allah protect us,or they have a child who is
sick, you never know, we reallyneed to understand everybody's
struggling.
Everybody has the issues.
And believe me when I say, youdon't want to trade your life
with anyone else's because youknow what you've done.
You don't know what they arecarrying like this invisible
burden
Mifrah Mahroof (39:40):
hmm.
Sofia A. (39:40):
and The the the burden that you are carrying it was
chosen for you.
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala, Hesays he doesn't burden any soul
with more than what they carry.
It means that if I am here I'mnot in Gaza, maybe because I'm
not able to carry this burdenthat we are carrying
Mifrah Mahroof (39:57):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (39:57):
Does it mean that I'm never going to get to Jannah, to
paradise?
Mifrah Mahroof (40:02):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (40:03):
That wouldn't be fair because I didn't choose where
I'm going to be born.
I didn't choose Where I'm goingto be in this moment in time, So
I have to do the best With whatAllah has given me at any given
time and if best, could likesome days It's better than
others and it's fine.
We just need to at the end ofthe day You will return to Allah
and we ask everything from himbecause everything is from him
(40:26):
our health, our strength, evenour faith, like saying La ilaha
illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullahsalallahu alayhi wasalam, it's
from him, it's a gift from him,it can be taken at any moment,
so trying to be grateful.
Not compare yourself.
Stop comparing yourself.
Do, like, stay in your lane.
Stay focused on what you can do.
Mifrah Mahroof (40:46):
um,
Sofia A. (40:47):
Check yourself.
Hold yourself accountable and doyour best.
And yeah, just stop tryingcomparing others and just
feeling bad for yourself and,wasting time and energy on
something which is not servinganyone.
And the other thing I wanted tosay as a life hack, because I
really think it's really good,is having a bit counter.
Yeah.
or a Dhikr ring, to do yourDhikr because, it's just a great
(41:10):
way to get you making moreDhikr.
And you will realize that youcan actually, yeah, I mean, you
use one as well.
And you know, like before youwould think, Oh my God, how am I
going to do whatever?
I don't want you to say numbers.
How are I going to do whatevernumber?
But once you get it.
And okay, you're driving, you gogrocery shopping, or you go
(41:33):
walking, you with your kid tothe park, and you keep making
this
Mifrah Mahroof (41:37):
yeah, that's, yeah, that
Sofia A. (41:38):
the end of the day, you look at it and you're like,
wow, I didn't know I could do somany.
Yeah, you can.
And some people would argue,yeah, but you actually, you're
not really there, you're a bitmindless.
And what?
And better being, keep yourtongue moving with the
remembrance of Allah than not.
Mifrah Mahroof (41:54):
actually think it creates mindlessness,
actually, because on the dayswhen I feel like I've used it a
lot, I feel like I'm morefocused and in the
Sofia A. (42:02):
Exactly, exactly, but that's the thing, it's a
limiting belief to say, yeah,when I want to do my dhikr,
Mifrah Mahroof (42:09):
they need to try that.
Sofia A. (42:10):
exactly, exactly, because, like,
Mifrah Mahroof (42:13):
and see, how your day looks like.
Sofia A. (42:15):
yeah, but it's the thing, you think, oh, I have to
be seated in a quiet place on mysalat mat, and then, I take my
matzbih or my finger, for themore rigorous, okay, I just
count on my finger.
I can't do that.
Okay.
After a hundred, I'm lost.
So.
maybe 200, 300 max, and then I'mlost, like, I need help.
Mifrah Mahroof (42:34):
Alhamdulillah,
Sofia A. (42:35):
only then I can do my dhikr, and then I sit there.
But because you never get this,we are like, as mothers, we have
kids running around, and whenare you going to get one, half
an hour, quiet, unless you haveto do that in the morning, like,
after fajr or before Fajr, wheneverybody's
Mifrah Mahroof (42:51):
you don't, you know, always have that
circumstance that's perfect,right?
Sofia A. (42:54):
Exactly.
Exactly.
And then you're deprivingyourself from that because you
can do dhikr in anycircumstances.
Even if you feel like, okay, I Iwas saying that, but I wasn't
there.
Don't worry.
It's going to have an effect.
The more presence you are, themore effect you're going to
have.
But even if you are like, feellike a bit mindless, you're it's
(43:15):
going to have an effect.
Your tongue is going to have aneffect on your mind, on your
heart, and you will reap thebenefit of that very soon,
InshaAllah.
So yeah.
Mifrah Mahroof (43:23):
okay, well, thanks.
that's, some really good LifeHacks, no comparisons and to
have a dhikr beat in your life,a dhikr counter actually.
the last few questions that Ihave is, what's a book that has
helped you level up in yourlife?
Sofia A. (43:35):
I can't think of a specific book that was really,
you know, I mean, except for theQuran.
what kind of answer is that?
We all know we need to need theQuran.
Yeah, but think about it.
How often do you read the Quranand understand what you read?
So I think, we need to give moreattention to the Quran.
because it's the one book you'llnever, ever going to get bored.
(43:57):
You're never going to know allof it.
You will always get newinsights.
You will always feel better,it's just incredible.
It's just a miracle.
Um, but,
Mifrah Mahroof (44:07):
um, actually doing it, reciting the Quran
with the meaning makes adifference too.
Cause when you think Quran, it'sjust like sometimes the
assumption is you just read itwith that understanding and you
just read, read, read, read,read.
Sofia A. (44:19):
Yeah.
So, I can't think of anotherbook right now, but I would say
as well, and it's part of maybethe life hack is sometimes we
don't really have time to sitagain, sit with a book.
It also requires the rightenvironment and so on, but we
can always listen.
Like most of the time we canlisten to something, so
commuting or even being at home,doing your calls, cooking,
(44:42):
whatever you can listen tosomething.
Get into a habit of listening toIslamic lectures.
Like, there's so many out therethat you can listen to.
And soon enough, you will retainsome of this knowledge.
And again, it's better thannothing.
It's better than listening tosomething which is really not
serving you, like there are goodpodcasts out there, but because,
(45:04):
I just didn't prepare a list forthat, obviously listen to, the
Muslim Life Hackers podcast andlisten to my podcast, the Women
of Ihsan podcast, but get intothe habit of listening to
student of knowledge, advancedstudent of knowledge, scholars,
and again, so many topics, andreminders.
(45:25):
The reminders benefit thebelievers.
So get into the habit at leastonce a day.
Listen to a short, if you can't,like you can't listen to a two
hour, one hour class, listen tojust 10, 15 minutes, 20 minutes
every day.
And it's going to make adifference.
Uh, a difference also in yourown, in your mindset,
subhanAllah, your thoughts areinfluenced by, like there's the
(45:48):
input.
What are you consuming?
Like the content you'reconsuming, it is going to have
an effect on your thoughtprocess and your thought having
an influence on your actions.
So it's going to change you.
If you keep listening toreminders, how you get close to
Allah, how you perfect yourSalah, the life of the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, thegood qualities of the believers,
(46:09):
whatever it may be, there are,millions now.
So getting into this habit isreally nice.
Mifrah Mahroof (46:15):
Yeah, that's true.
Okay, awesome.
And, where can our listenersfind you?
Sofia A. (46:18):
So you can find me on Instagram.
It's Sofia.coaching.
I'm also on LinkedIn.
If you get my Instagram, just goon the links in bio, you have
everything.
And the podcast is on Spotify,Apple podcasts, and YouTube.
It's Women of Ihsan.
Subscribe and share and comment.
And yeah,
Mifrah Mahroof (46:38):
Awesome.
Sofia, thank you so much forcoming on.
Sofia A. (46:40):
thank you so much.
It was an honor to be here.
Thank you so much.
Mifrah (46:44):
Hey everyone.
That wraps up another episodefrom the Muslim Life Hackers
podcast.
I really hope you enjoyed ourchat today.
I've got some great takeaways.
if you like what you heard anddon't want to miss out on our
next conversations, hit thatsubscribe button on YouTube,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, orwherever you're listening to
this from.
It means a lot to us, and ithelps us reach more people who
can benefit from this show.
(47:04):
Thank you again for tuning in.
Until next time, keep strivingand getting better every day.
Asalamu Alaikum everyone andwelcome to the Muslim Life
(00:02):
Hackers podcast.
I'm your host Mifrah Mahroof andin today's episode we're going
to be having on Sofia from theWomen of Ihsan podcast.
So a bit about Sofia.
Sofia has a background intranslation and project
management, spending 15 years inthis space.
She decided to change her careerpath and become a certified
professional coach to serve thecommunity.
(00:23):
So she's passionate abouthelping high achieving Muslim
women design their ideal faithcentered lives so that they can
thrive in alignment with theirdeen.
she's a French Moroccan livingin Germany with her husband and
three children.
So I hope you enjoy this episodeand without further ado, let's
get started.
Mifrah Mahroof (00:38):
Asalamu alaikum, Sofia.
Welcome to the show.
Sofia A. (00:41):
Waalaykumu salam wa-raḥmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Jazakallah khairan.
Thank you for having me.
Mifrah Mahroof (00:46):
Well, thank you for coming on.
One of the things that I'mfamiliar with you and about your
work is that you're actually ahost of this podcast called the
Women of Ihsan.
So you've actually been runningthat for how long?
Sofia A. (00:56):
So we a started the podcast when I say we, it's me
and the guests.
Mifrah Mahroof (01:02):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (01:03):
So I launched it at the end of December.
I started a little bit earlierdoing the recordings, but it's
officially launched at the endof December 2023.
Alhamdulillah.
So it's been over six monthsnow.
Mifrah Mahroof (01:15):
Oh, nice.
It's always a pleasure to meet afellow podcaster and actually
put them in the side of a guestand, be able to learn more about
them.
So I'm excited to have you on.
So the first question thatreally comes to mind is coming
from your podcast itself.
So you have that women of Ihsan.
So how would you actually definethe term Ihsan and what does
that mean to you?
Sofia A. (01:37):
Oh my, so you are basically you're throwing my
question at me now.
Mifrah Mahroof (01:41):
Yeah, I'm really
Sofia A. (01:42):
there is no,
Mifrah Mahroof (01:43):
this word goes around a lot in like the Muslim
space, the Islamic personaldevelopment, be a person of
Ihsan.
So what does that actually mean?
Sofia A. (01:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
and you know what, this is oneof the questions I ask my guests
all the time.
What
Mifrah Mahroof (01:54):
Oh, really?
Okay.
Sofia A. (01:55):
to strive?
Yes.
What does it mean for you tostrive and become a woman of
Ihsan?
So first of all, we are allstriving.
It's not, we are not saying,okay, the podcast is called
women of Ihsan, but we're not,we are striving.
We are trying to raise the barhere because I think one of our
problem as a Muslim community ingeneral, wherever we are in the
(02:16):
world, we haven't raised the barin terms of our deen.
What I mean by that is we arehappy with mediocrity when it
comes to our deen.
Because when you look at howmuch efforts we put in our
careers, in having a nice home,having a nice family, getting
our kids in the best schools,getting the best of this dunya,
(02:38):
but when it comes to ourworship, oh my God, I pray five
times a day.
Alhamdulillah that's it.
Like you see what I mean?
The bar is so low, we put it solow.
Subhanallah, may Allah forgiveus.
And when I say that I speak formyself, like you come, at the
end of the day, you drained andwhen you look back, well at
(02:58):
least I prayed on time,Alhamdulillah, that's it?
Is that it?
who would be happy in a job,like imagine you're the manager,
and your team, they're justdoing the bare minimum.
Like, they're just ticking theboxes.
What kind of work environment isthat?
What kind of progress are yougoing to do?
If you're just ticking theboxes, Oh, okay.
(03:19):
Yeah, I came at eight.
Okay.
I'm here at eight.
Oh, okay.
I took my lunch and I had to dothis.
Okay.
And nothing more, just the bareminimum.
When are we going to exceedexpectations here?
So first of all, for me, Ihsanis putting Allah at the center,
again, because He is anyway.
(03:39):
It's just that we are not aware,but He is.
So working on our mindset isreally just, taking the time to
reflect on your life because wedon't know how much time we have
left
Mifrah Mahroof (03:53):
Yeah, that's true.
Sofia A. (03:54):
when it's over, we go back to him.
We are alone in our grave and westand alone before him.
So what is it that we are goingto present?
And so Ihsan is, there aredifferent layers to that,
different aspects, differentdimensions to ihsan.
So obviously it's about yourbehavior.
Your behavior with people, likehaving good character, akhlaq,
(04:18):
like the Prophet SAW.
He's our role model foreverything.
Having good relationships withpeople, being an ambassador of
Islam, behaving yourself in agood way that you are not,
staining Islam with your badwords or your bad behavior, bad
ethics, lacking of integrity andso on and so forth.
Being generous, being good toyour parents.
(04:40):
This is all, what our beautifuldeen teaches us.
So Ihsan is definitely the partof that.
all that you can see, but it'salso, and I think it's even more
important, everything we can'tsee.
It's about purifying the heart.
It's about Ihsan is really,about getting rid of everything
(05:04):
that you don't want to find inyour book when you stand before
Allah SAW.
And Allah, He knows yourthoughts and He knows what's
happening in your heart.
Nobody else.
So it's really, having all ofthese dimensions and it's not
easy.
That's why we are just striving,we are trying, but at least we
know, okay, now I'm going toraise the bar here.
(05:24):
I'm not just, okay, from theoutside, I'm wearing my hijab, I
ticked the boxes, I prayed fivetimes, I fasted my Ramadan, and
that's it.
And then you have all of thesediseases of the heart.
You're jealous, you're envious,you're arrogant.
You have like every time you dosomething good, you're like,
wow, look what I did, maybe notout loud, but inside of
(05:47):
yourself, you have this selfadmiration, which is a disease
of the heart.
So how you go about it, islearning your religion, like
seek knowledge, knowledge.
Just do not be content with thebare minimum.
Try to go, like you do that foryour job, like you do that for
your studies, whatever you like,anything you own, like you want
to have a nice car, you just,you're not going to have like
(06:08):
this old, you know, a rusty car.
You want something nice.
The same with what's inside ofyourself and your relationship
with Allah SAW.
Trying to upgrade that
Mifrah Mahroof (06:20):
yeah,
Sofia A. (06:20):
in a nutshell.
Mifrah Mahroof (06:22):
Yeah.
so would it be that you'reconstantly not happy with where
you are and you just keepstriving?
Like you just keep improvingyourself?
is that how it would look like?
Sofia A. (06:32):
So I think we have to be very careful here
Mifrah Mahroof (06:36):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (06:36):
between not being happy with ourselves and falling
into despair.
Mifrah Mahroof (06:42):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (06:43):
Like, Ihsan is also getting back on your feet, when
you fall or when you feel lowand never give up and never fall
into despair, because this isone of the trick of shaitan.
And so not conflate perfectionwith excellence.
We're never going to be perfect.
If we are looking forperfection, we're never going to
(07:03):
get it.
We are going to burn out andthen maybe just give up on
everything and just, go back toour lowest standards.
Mifrah Mahroof (07:12):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (07:12):
It's about finding this quote unquote balance
where, you know, the one who canjudge you is Allah SWT.
And at the same time, he's alsogenerous and compassionate he
doesn't gain any fee inpunishing you.
So it's also being kind toyourself, like, you are trying
(07:34):
your best and just having Allahin mind as much as possible is
already being above average.
Mifrah Mahroof (07:42):
Right.
Sofia A. (07:42):
look at humanity as a whole, who thinks about Allah at
all, like you have to be abeliever first.
So Alhamdulillah, we are alreadyin the few, but then we want to
be better, not just, okay, Ithink about Allah when I pray
five times a day, and even thenyou're not focused.
(08:03):
You're just, the rituals and yourush for your Salah and you get
it done.
We also trying to have thisconnection.
And that's why Dhikr is soimportant.
Like outside of Salah, trying tohave this moment where you make
dhikr, where you reflect uponcreation, like just having this
child, approach to life, beingcurious and being amazed, not
(08:28):
being like, Oh yeah, yeah, thesky is blue.
Yeah.
Oh yeah, the sun is shining.
Like, subhanAllah, like peoplewho don't believe in God, they
take this for granted.
They don't see any miracle inthat when everything is a
miracle of that around us,everything is a sign.
And so it's really like, when Isay having this mind shift is
look at Allah first.
(08:48):
He's the creator of all of this.
He put this on your path so youcan have a look at it, and being
grateful.
So by being grateful for all ofthese blessings but we can never
count our blessings and thinkingI'm the beneficiary, like I'm
the receiver of all of this,like this good feeling that you
have.
(09:08):
It should outweigh negative,maybe, the negative emotions you
get when you think about all ofyour shortcomings.
Because Allah, He didn't createus to be perfect.
The angels, they're alreadyobeying Him.
But He created a human being whocould make mistake and return to
him and this is the best like weknow from the tradition of the
(09:28):
Prophet SAW That all of thechildren of Adam they are going
to make mistakes but the best ofthem are those who return to
Allah SWT who ask forforgiveness and they return to
him.
So what does it mean beingaware?
I am now aware.
I make mistakes.
My goal in life is not stop,like, obviously, I want you to
(09:49):
make less mistakes.
I don't want to come and domajor sins, that's a given.
But we are still going to fall,we will always have
shortcomings.
Mifrah Mahroof (09:58):
hmm, that's
Sofia A. (09:59):
And then returning to Allah, returning and returning
all the time.
And as much as you do that, yourrelationship with Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala becomesstronger.
And then this is what moves youforward Insha Allah
Mifrah Mahroof (10:12):
hmm.
I see.
So what I'm hearing is like,Ihsan is more like a verb.
It's like a state of doing,being, striving.
Whereas, sometimes like at leastwe kind of hold ourselves to, we
might be like, I need to beperfect.
And then when that perfection isnot there, it's like, I can't do
Sofia A. (10:31):
It's never going to be perfect.
Mifrah Mahroof (10:33):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (10:35):
a recipe for disaster.
Mifrah Mahroof (10:36):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (10:37):
You're never going to be perfect.
What?
Yeah.
Yeah.
But also the perfection is withAllah SWT
Mifrah Mahroof (10:43):
Hmm.
yeah, that's true.
And I think it's like setting upthat standard for ourselves
makes it hard for us to progressbecause when we can like
actually say, Hey, am I beingconscious?
Am I striving?
Then it's a totally differentmindset to like, have I made it?
Cause like we were evenspeaking, outside of the show
about the concept of making itor striving.
(11:05):
And I guess it goes back to the
Sofia A. (11:07):
Yeah, because the thing is, what is so beautiful
with Allah subhanahu wa ta'alain His generosity, He rewards us
for our efforts, not for theoutcome.
Any outcome, anything you set upto do, any project, anything,
you don't even know, are yougoing to come to complete it?
So either you complete it ornot, whether it was what you
expected or not, the efforts,your intentions, while you are
(11:32):
working towards it, this iswhere you get your reward.
Mifrah Mahroof (11:35):
Hmm.
True.
True.
Sofia A. (11:39):
And that's why,
Mifrah Mahroof (11:40):
a lot of pressure off us, right?
Sofia A. (11:43):
yeah, in the sense that, It's so different than
what we have been used to,
Mifrah Mahroof (11:50):
100
Sofia A. (11:51):
cool.
For instance, they don't look atall the kids, how long they
stayed and learned the lessons,how much efforts it took them.
Like some kids, they have iteasier and we just get the good
grades.
They just look at the grades.
Mifrah Mahroof (12:04):
Yeah
Sofia A. (12:05):
don't look at the poor kid who have been, maybe, the
parents, they hired a tutor,they're spending hours and the
poor kid is just overwhelmedwith everything, but they are
really striving and working,just look at the grade at the
end, okay?
It's not like that with Allah.
He takes into considerationeverything, like the efforts and
(12:25):
the intention, who you did itfor.
And, along the way, if we gothurt as well, we get rewarded
for that.
Mifrah Mahroof (12:33):
it's
Sofia A. (12:34):
so I always say we always win with Allah SWT.
That's the
Mifrah Mahroof (12:38):
Yeah, true.
It's interesting that youbrought up the point about at
school, we always strive to getA plus.
And I know that I've been astudent that was always after A
plus and all the high marks,high achiever kind of thing.
And I know that's makes me, bevery concerned about the result
and to shift that thinking, tobe that no, with Allah SWT, it's
(13:01):
about the effort and it's aboutwhat you keep doing.
Kind of opens up the leeway toone of the other questions that
I also had as well aboutdecolonizing the mind, actually.
And this was something that Itis quite interesting.
It's something that we are allaffected by, especially, myself
and yourself, we grew uplearning from these schools and
(13:23):
we've been influenced by thatand also influences the way we
see the world, which can be alsocontrary to what our Islamic
world view teaches us as well.
So let's discuss more.
What does it actually mean todecolonize your mind?
what does that even mean,actually?
Can you have a colonised
Sofia A. (13:42):
I think a series of podcasts just about that.
So my best to it's
Mifrah Mahroof (13:45):
really
Sofia A. (13:46):
try
Mifrah Mahroof (13:46):
yeah, a
Sofia A. (13:47):
so important, especially in the context that
we are in, with everything.
That's what's been happening fornine months now.
in Palestine, in Gaza.
Anyone who had any doubt beforeabout this western quote unquote
values, which are not valuesbecause they have no value, by
definition.
So I don't know what is theword, which is the contrary like
(14:11):
the opposite of value, becausethis would be the term that we
should use here.
The blatant hypocrisy, thedouble, triple standards that we
see in the world.
I can't get used to it.
I know it is the way it is, butI just cannot get used.
I cannot get over the fact thatas we speak for nine months, a
population of over 2 millionpeople has been starved.
Mifrah Mahroof (14:35):
mm,
Sofia A. (14:36):
Let's just talk about the starving.
Not even the bombing, themassacres, everything else.
Just about the starving, cuttingfood and water for more than one
million children, because halfthe population in Gaza are
children.
They are dying from starvationin front of our eyes, in front
of like, live stream on ourscreens.
(14:58):
How is it even possible to havethat?
When there is abundance of food,water, just a few meters away
from the border, how is it evenconceivable to the human mind
that you are going to leave 2million people starving to death
after bombing their houses,after bombing them and
(15:18):
everything for 9 months?
So really, after being colonizedin Muslim countries last
century.
They left the countries, buttheir influence is still there
and decolonizing the mind isfirst being aware of that.
What you have learned is not thetruth with a capital T.
(15:41):
What you have learned in school,in the history books, or like
chosen by the state, thegovernment, whatever it may be.
These are not always historicalfacts that depicts the truth,
the whole, because if you go andcheck history books, like
written by authors, throughoutthe centuries, which are not
(16:03):
taught in school, then you willsee something very different.
Mifrah Mahroof (16:08):
of course,
Sofia A. (16:09):
Like just one example, like the crusades seen by the
Arabs.
It's very different than thecrusades seen by the crusaders
Mifrah Mahroof (16:16):
mm.
Sofia A. (16:17):
children or grandchildren.
So we need to really wake up andquestion our worldview,
especially if we are Muslims,because we have just taken for
granted everything that we havelearned.
And some of it is really theopposite of what our faith is
teaching us.
Mifrah Mahroof (16:37):
How is it affecting us?
this history, say we learnt itfrom this perspective, um,
Sofia A. (16:41):
It affecting us because their goal is to divide
us.
Mifrah Mahroof (16:47):
mm,
Sofia A. (16:48):
They want to divide us.
They don't want the ummah to beone.
They don't want the Muslims tobe under one banner.
That's why they draw all ofthese lines.
They made several, how do youcall that, when you cut a pie,
Mifrah Mahroof (17:04):
Yeah, like, um,
Sofia A. (17:05):
so they, exactly.
And then they gave you names,like now this is your country,
this is the state that you needto give your allegiance to, and
the neighboring country, even ifactually these are your family,
sometimes your people who werefrom the same region, but now
there is, this line which hasbeen drawn by these foreign
(17:29):
powers.
And now they want to divide.
I'll just give one example,Algeria and Morocco.
They have so many problems, likepolitical, issues between them,
but before this line was drawnby who, by back then it was
their common enemy.
Mifrah Mahroof (17:46):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (17:46):
They were one, and then one day they came and said,
okay, between this village andthis village, now there's going
to be this line.
This is going to be Morocco.
This is going to be Algeria.
You will have your government,and this happened all around,
like in Bilad Sham, um, likeeverywhere in all the Muslim
lands, let's say, I will not saycountry because now country has
(18:07):
the borders that they drawn, sothe Muslim lands and now someone
who is born in Morocco orAlgeria or Tunisia, Egypt, he
says first, okay, I'm Moroccan.
Oh, he's Algerian.
What's the difference?
We are actually, we are one.
And anyone who comes to thefaith and says, La ilaha
(18:28):
illallah Muhammad rasulullahsallallahu alaihi wasallam, he's
your brother, she's your sister.
Doesn't matter what passportshe's carrying.
And so it has affected usbecause now we have taken this
mentality of beingindividualistic
Mifrah Mahroof (18:42):
They're not caring
Sofia A. (18:43):
because and not caring, yeah, the prophet taught
us, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,the ummah is one body.
Mifrah Mahroof (18:50):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (18:52):
And when part of the body is hurt, is aching, then
the whole body has a fever andfeeling like when you see the
ummah now and people wholiterally, they don't care about
what's happening as long as, I'mhappy, I'm comfortable, My kids
are all set, I have my nicehouse.
I have my nice car whateversalary or whatever comes at the
(19:15):
end of the month.
I'm happy.
I can go on holiday.
Here and then I go to themasjid.
They are going to do afundraising I'm going to give
some charity to feel better, tofeel good about myself and
that's it.
Is it what Islam came for?
Mifrah Mahroof (19:29):
Hmm.
So
Sofia A. (19:30):
I don't think so
Mifrah Mahroof (19:31):
believe, that is it.
Sofia A. (19:33):
Yeah, that's why, look at the opulence, it's really
indecent now to look at thewealth that some of these
Muslims, not to name anycountry, or government, and
their brothers and sisters andtheir children are being starved
to death.
How is this even possible?
Mifrah Mahroof (19:51):
So I guess what I'm hearing is that the result
of having a mind that iscolonized is that you start to
just see your relationship withAllah SWT as a very personal
thing, you, your family, and nota collective responsibility,
because if you do start thinkingabout a collective
responsibility, then you'llstart also thinking, what part
(20:11):
am I playing?
Like, how am I contributing tothe ummah?
Because you don't see yourselfas a person of the ummah, you
see yourself as a person of yourcountry, your passport, which
really affects your actions.
Am I understanding it correctly?
Sofia A. (20:28):
Yeah, I'm going to give you another example and
maybe some who are going tolisten to that, they can relate,
some they can't relate, but tosome extent, it describes the
situation.
it might sound for some a bitextreme to give an example of
the French Muslims, but thereare a few millions as well.
So Anyone who's listening tothat, they will very much relate
(20:51):
to that or anyone in Europe,actually, or even in the West.
But in France, religion issomething very private.
You don't discuss religion.
You don't talk about that.
Even if you are Christian orwhatever, it's not something you
talk about in public, likepolitics, religion, something,
or how much you earn issomething you keep that to
(21:13):
yourself.
Okay.
Mifrah Mahroof (21:15):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (21:15):
Muslims in France, they have to keep a low profile.
That's why they are so like thepoliticians, they don't like the
hijab because a woman who wearshijab, she's making a statement.
She's showing her identity as amuslim.
and they don't like that becausethey want to erase religion,
religiosity and everything.
(21:37):
So what you do, and some people,they are okay with that.
This is what I'm saying.
They are with that.
As long as, I get home, I canpray, there are some masjids
that are still open.
Alhamdulillah, I can go there.
I can buy my halal meat.
That's fine.
I'm doing my individual ritualsand that's it.
(21:57):
Alhamdulillah, I'm living myIslam.
Without having this concern thatIslam, you talk about Islam in
the plural.
Surah Al Fatiha is we is askingfor us.
Not asking for just me is guideus to the straight path.
You are the one that we worship,Allah.
(22:18):
It's not about I worship you andplease guide me.
No, it's a collective.
but again, they divided us like,yeah.
So we divided the populations,but we are also dividing the
individuals from their concernfor the greater community.
Mifrah Mahroof (22:35):
Hmm,
Sofia A. (22:35):
and when you do that, you look at the ummah now, and
this is the result that you get.
After a century of not being oneummah, not having a khilafah,
This is what you get.
Everyone in their corner doingwhatever they can consciously,
or most of the timeunconsciously, because it's like
the people, again, to give anexample, like Muslims who came
(22:56):
to Europe or to the UK, UnitedStates, Australia, they were in
surviving mode.
They didn't go because theydon't like their country of
origin.
Mifrah Mahroof (23:07):
hmm.
Sofia A. (23:07):
They went because there was nothing to make a
living, SubhanAllah,unfortunately.
And so they went there and theythought, okay, I'm just going to
adapt.
Because a lot of them, they alsohad very limited knowledge, like
they were not like scholars orstudents of knowledge who left
and went there and started towork in the factories, be it in
France or in the UK or whereverit may be, or in Germany, they
(23:32):
went there and, okay, lowprofile, I'm just going to do
whatever is needed for me to getmy salary and then to feed my
family and give my children abetter future.
Mifrah Mahroof (23:42):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (23:42):
Best case is they came with their Deen and they built
Masajid.
But that's not the case all thetime.
Mifrah Mahroof (23:49):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (23:50):
And that's why you find a lot of Muslims,
unfortunately, they are justMuslim by name.
They're going to celebrate Eidbecause who doesn't want to
celebrate, you know?
Most of them, Alhamdulillah,they are still fasting Ramadan,
but some of them, they even wentaway from Ramadan.
Mifrah Mahroof (24:06):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (24:07):
Women, if they feel like, okay, I can't have a job
if I wear my hijab, Then there'sno hijab, like in France.
Mifrah Mahroof (24:14):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (24:15):
And what is left from your Islam?
Mifrah Mahroof (24:17):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (24:18):
You pray at the end of the day, because in these
workplaces you can't even pray.
So you come back home, and thenafter 5, 6pm, you pray all the
prayers you didn't do, like youpray Duhur, Asr, Maghrib.
In winter you even have to prayIsha.
Mifrah Mahroof (24:32):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (24:32):
What is left?
even if you wanted, you don'teven have the capacity to think
about, beyond yourself.
Even if you want it becauseyou're so drained.
Mifrah Mahroof (24:40):
Yeah.
And we look at that as it'snormal, it's the normal way to
live.
We don't really see
Sofia A. (24:46):
Yeah.
I I can't remember where, orfrom whom I heard that, but it's
really modern slavery.
Mifrah Mahroof (24:51):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (24:52):
know, keeping people to their 9 to 5 or whatever, or
night shifts, or whatever it maybe, like, keep them busy with
how they're going to make enoughmoney to get their bread, feed
their kids, pay their rent, goon holiday, in this hamster
wheel, and everybody's happy.
And behind the scenes, they aredoing whatever they want.
Mifrah Mahroof (25:13):
I've actually heard that as well.
How like the system is designedexactly to extract the most and
we're just left with just tryingto make it every week
Sofia A. (25:25):
Yeah.
I wrote a
Mifrah Mahroof (25:26):
working well for that.
Sofia A. (25:28):
Yeah, and, I wrote a quote the other day and I
thought, my God, this is sotrue.
Some people say, the system isbroken.
The system is not broken.
It's not broken.
It was designed this way.
Mifrah Mahroof (25:38):
And it's working exactly how it's designed.
Sofia A. (25:41):
Exactly.
Mifrah Mahroof (25:42):
Yeah.
And I think even that statement,the system is broken, is like
having a colonized mind.
Like this system is a perfectsystem.
It's just broken because forsomething to be broken, it means
that when it's not broken, itworks perfectly.
Right.
Yeah.
So I think it's veryinteresting.
We have this kind of language,that's a statement I hear
commonly as well.
The system is broken.
(26:03):
So it's like this whole mindsethas really penetrated
Sofia A. (26:05):
by design.
Mifrah Mahroof (26:07):
by design.
Sofia A. (26:07):
broken by design.
Mifrah Mahroof (26:09):
Yeah, but to say anything otherwise makes you
feel like, oh, you're just beinga conspiracy theorist.
You know,
Sofia A. (26:15):
Yeah, it's unpolitically correct.
It's um, yeah.
SubhanAllah.
yeah, SubhanAllah.
May Allah grant usunderstanding.
Mifrah Mahroof (26:23):
and I think it's really important to have this
discussion to actually, point tothat.
Because like you said, the firststep of seeing if you have a
colonized mind is to actuallyunderstand that it's a thing.
And it's a reality and throughunderstanding InshaAllah will
come more awareness and then theactions to get out of that and
go back to Allah SWT.
(26:45):
Allah SWT asks of us andbecoming a person of Ihsan
really, like in our personal, inour collective, in the whole way
Islam has been given to us.
Sofia A. (26:55):
Yeah.
And one other thing,
Mifrah Mahroof (26:57):
we just touched the tip of the iceberg on this
Sofia A. (26:59):
yeah, but one other thing, I think it's really
important and, I will talk formyself and then anyone, if it
resonates, it's just me.
Today, I can talk for myself andsay that Allah SWT, He tells us
in the Quran to come into thedeen and take all of it
completely.
Like whatever it comes fromAllah SWT and His Messenger,
(27:21):
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, youneed to, to say, Sami'na Wa
Ata'na, we heard and we obey.
We don't discuss anything, likeanything which is clear cut.
We have to take it.
But what has happened is, firstof all, we don't know what is
our individual obligations?
We don't know what you'resupposed to do, we don't know
what is expected from us, in theDeen, what Allah is expecting
(27:44):
from us.
And we are happy with living ourwhole life with whatever we
picked up here and there.
And what happens is we missparts of what makes us Muslim.
I don't know if that makessense, but again, thinking
beyond yourself.
You're not just here to serveyour own interests.
(28:04):
Allah put human beings asKhilafah on earth.
We are the representative ofAllah on earth, i.
e.
we are supposed to be doing agood job here.
Not only the good job, we shouldtry to do the best we can
Mifrah Mahroof (28:18):
Hmm.
to
Sofia A. (28:19):
preserve the earth for the next generations, but also
protect any human being on thisearth, not let happen everything
that's been happening.
Mifrah Mahroof (28:29):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (28:30):
you think, oh, okay, no, that's not my
responsibility.
I have no power whatsoever.
Just, whatever the people inpower, whatever they do, I will
just follow.
Mifrah Mahroof (28:39):
the blame to the power, right?
Sofia A. (28:41):
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
Not taking any responsibility.
We all have.
Mifrah Mahroof (28:44):
like, I mean, right now the world is what it
is.
So
Sofia A. (28:47):
Again, I think,
Mifrah Mahroof (28:48):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (28:52):
first, waking up.
It's already huge.
Like just to wake up, and okay,forget the world.
Are you doing your best to saveyourself?
That's the first thing you needto do.
Like save yourself and yourfamily from the fire.
Mifrah Mahroof (29:06):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (29:07):
Allah said in the Quran.
Mifrah Mahroof (29:09):
So that would be the first step.
Check if
Sofia A. (29:11):
First step, are you awake enough that your mission
in life is to save yourself fromthe fire?
Mifrah Mahroof (29:18):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (29:19):
Like when you wake up in the morning, do you think
maybe this is my last day?
And again, I'm guilty of that aswell.
Is this my last day?
If I die today, am I going tosave myself from the fire?
And what have I left for myfamily?
Because they are also includedin that.
What I left to them, is it goingto serve me as well?
Is it going to serve as sadaqahjariah or maybe the opposite?
(29:40):
May Allah protect us.
Mifrah Mahroof (29:41):
Mean?
Sofia A. (29:42):
So first, are you trying to save yourself?
And when you do that, you learnlike you seek knowledge.
You go and listen to what Allahis telling you.
In the Quran, the miracle thatwe have in our homes, the
biggest blessings, one of thebiggest blessings that we have
after saying Lailahailallah ishaving the Quran.
(30:03):
Are we taking advantage of this?
Are we reading the Quran?
Are we trying to understand whatAllah is telling us in it?
Are we learning the life of theProphet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam so that we canunderstand the Quran better
because we can't understand theQuran without the Sunnah of the
Prophet Sallallahu AlaihiWasallam.
Like at an individual level, arewe doing this?
And then the natural consequenceof that is I need to serve a
(30:27):
higher purpose.
It's not just about me.
Mifrah Mahroof (30:30):
Yeah.
So get yourself on that journey.
'cause
Sofia A. (30:33):
Exactly.
Mifrah Mahroof (30:34):
as you keep showing up and you get yourself
on that journey, Allah willguide you and show you the path
in which you can come to thatrealisation on what you should
be doing for the ummah that'sspecial to you and your talents
and what Allah's given you.
Sofia A. (30:49):
Exactly.
Mifrah Mahroof (30:50):
And that's a very
Sofia A. (30:52):
you don't have to figure it out, no one has
figured everything out the firstday, but you need to take that
first step and, after the firststep, then the next step is
going to be clear, becomeevident for you and you'll take
it and so on and so forth.
And then you adjust.
Mifrah Mahroof (31:07):
true.
Yeah, it's an ongoing journey.
I guess it's coming back to whatwe started.
It's like Ihsan is to strive.
It's an ongoing journey.
It's not like one day you wakeup and it's like, Oh, I got it
all figured out.
Sofia A. (31:19):
No, It's never going to be like that.
And we pray that Allah takes usback when we are at our best.
Ameen.
Mifrah Mahroof (31:25):
Ameen.
Ameen
Sofia A. (31:26):
I feel like it's been a bit, a negative talk and so
on, but really it's not, it'sjust, SubhanAllah, it's
Mifrah Mahroof (31:32):
a talk that needs to happen, especially
considering the times that we'rein right now.
Sofia A. (31:37):
yeah.
Because it's so sad,SubhanAllah, it's heartbreaking.
It's just a miracle in and ofitself that our brothers and
sisters in Gaza, they are justholding up.
They are still alive, like theyare still holding on to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
They are such role models forus.
For anyone who's looking for arole model,
Mifrah Mahroof (31:57):
100
Sofia A. (31:58):
look at the people of Gaza.
Mifrah Mahroof (31:59):
percent and
Sofia A. (32:00):
like, from the youngest to the eldest, even the
kids like the eloquence of thechildren like I've seen some
children, SubhanAllah like howthey talk like they are such an
educated people.
They are so connected to Allahsubhanahu wa'ta'ala even now
under the bombs and they haveHalakat, they have Quran
recitation competition under thetents, SubhanAllah, where are
(32:22):
we?
They have their Jumu'ah khutbahand prayers, in ruins.
Mifrah Mahroof (32:27):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (32:28):
Where are we?
Mifrah Mahroof (32:29):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (32:30):
We can't even compare ourselves to them.
Mifrah Mahroof (32:32):
I think what's also scary for me actually is,
as much as it is sad andheartbreaking to see what's
happening, I feel what's scaryis, what's Allah going to ask
me?
all these blessings I have, thiswhole, everything is easy, like
I have safety, security, food,wealth, shelter, everything.
And what is Allah going to askme?
I think that's what scares methe most.
(32:52):
Out of what's
Sofia A. (32:53):
Yeah, well, he's going to ask us, what did you do with
that?
Mifrah Mahroof (32:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sofia A. (32:56):
He's going to ask us, what did you do with that?
You had this safety, you hadthis quote unquote freedom, you
had food, you had comfortablelife.
What did you do with that?
Mifrah Mahroof (33:05):
Yeah Yeah
Sofia A. (33:12):
and look at the people of Gaza.
How many people embraced Islam?
Just looking at them, theirresilience, their unshakable
faith, SubhanAllah.
Prophet Sallallahu AlaihiWasallam, he told Ali, Sayyidina
Ali Radiallahu Anhu.
That if just one person, If youcan guide just one person to
(33:33):
Islam, this would be just such ahuge blessing I'm just
paraphrasing, but being thecause for someone to enter Islam
is better than the whole world.
And look at what they did, intheir suffering in this big,
big, big trial they are in as weare watching them, they have
been able to get all of thisreward for bringing people to
(33:58):
Islam, either people who arecompletely out of Islam or even
Muslims who woke up,Alhamdulillah, because there is
an awakening.
People are waking up becausethey are seeing the blatant
hypocrisy, the lies, andeverything that we've been told,
it was just a lie.
System is broken by design, etc,everything that we've been
talking about.
(34:18):
Alhamdulillah, and they see,okay, this faith, I want to have
that.
Mifrah Mahroof (34:22):
yeah, yeah,
Sofia A. (34:23):
I want to return to Allah with this faith.
Mifrah Mahroof (34:27):
Alhamdulillah, lots to think about, lots to
ponder.
And, unfortunately we're gettingclose to the end of our episode.
So I'm going to go straight tothe questions that we ask all
our guests.
So the first one is, what wouldyou say is one life hack that
has improved your life?
Sofia A. (34:43):
I would say life hack, is not compare yourself with
other people.
We say that the comparison isthe thief of joy, but it is even
more true because, like forAllah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He
looks at us individually.
He looks at me in this presentmoment and He looks at you in
(35:03):
this present moment.
He doesn't compare us.
Again, example of school becausewe all been to school and we all
know, okay, we compare ourgrades and you're better than me
because there's no, like, wedon't know who's better than us.
In the sense that we can, at anygiven moment, we can become this
better person.
I don't know if that makessense.
Mifrah Mahroof (35:22):
Yeah,
Sofia A. (35:23):
in a given moment, when you feel close to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, this isyours.
Nobody can take that from you.
And anyone can have that,feeling close to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, getting to know him,And just having this feeling
that I'm returning to Him, I'mreturning to my Lord, and if He
loves me, I'm safe for eternity.
(35:44):
Having this, no one can, takethis away from you.
And whatever you try, it's work.
Yes, whatever you have in yourheart and your intentions,
because it's only known to him.
Even you yourself, sometimes youconfuse, you don't know, was I
really sincere?
Was my intention just for Allah?
He knows, you know?
So and when I say comparingyourself, what do you mean not
(36:06):
compare yourself?
Allah also says we shouldcompete one another, to do good
deeds.
And, SubhanAllah, when you thinkabout it, what it means is, the
only thing worth competing isgood deeds.
Like, we are competing foreverything, for the dunya, which
is not worth it.
He said, okay, you want tocompete?
Well, compete for what?
is worth and it is goodness formy sake, whatever you do.
(36:29):
And obviously we need to clack.
For instance, we also haveexamples of people, they were
giving Sadaqah, even at the timeof the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam openly to invite and,encourage other people to give,
and then your intention, mayAllah protect us.
It's very difficult.
Sahaba, they did that, but theywere the Sahaba, RadhiAllahu
Anhum.
(36:50):
And even today, sometimes youneed to start an action.
You want to raise money and youneed to show, okay, we are doing
this.
Mifrah Mahroof (36:56):
Alhamdulillah.
Sofia A. (36:58):
do that because otherwise nobody would never
give something.
But, it's really, you have thiscompetition in the good deeds,
but it doesn't mean that, oh,this person, they gave$100,000
they are better than me.
It's not like that.
Mifrah Mahroof (37:13):
not to compare yourself.
So use that as a means to, Hey,I want to do better and I wish I
can be able to
Sofia A. (37:20):
Because the thing, yeah, but the thing is your
potential is different.
Like this person, they have amillion in the bank.
If they can give 100,000 goodfor them.
I don't know, you only have 1,000 and you gave 100, 000.
Well, you actually gave morethan the one who has, the
million in the bank.
and on top of that, you had theright intention, well, actually
(37:41):
you are better than the personwho's so rich and healthy,
wealthy and so on, so becausethere are so many variables to
these equations, and only Allahknows, then you realize at some
point, why am I comparing myselflike you like, for instance, am
I going to compare Okay, let'sdo something completely silly.
Okay, you have a podcast.
I have a podcast.
(38:01):
Am I going to compare now mypodcast with your Podcast.
When you have something tobring, which is completely
different from what I have tobring, you have your own life
experience.
I have my life experience.
What you're bringing, it offersa new perspective.
I have a perspective.
Is Allah going to judge us onthe views?
The likes.
Mifrah Mahroof (38:21):
no, no way.
Sofia A. (38:23):
no, no, you know.
so Again, let's put Allah first.
Mifrah Mahroof (38:27):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (38:28):
Okay, how?
Mifrah Mahroof (38:30):
not to compare and just put Allah SWT first.
Sofia A. (38:33):
Yeah,
Mifrah Mahroof (38:34):
Yeah.
Sofia A. (38:36):
and obviously you need to get this inspiration and oh,
I wish, I could do things betterand, but it doesn't mean that
the person you are looking up toin this particular thing, it
doesn't mean that they arebetter than you.
This is what I want to conveyhere, the message.
It doesn't mean that because,they might be, I don't know,
maybe, successful businesspeople.
(38:58):
whatever.
But then family life is chaoticproblems, or even sickness,
something you have no controlover that.
you don't see the struggles thatthey have.
Maybe they are caring for allthe parents, or maybe even
themselves, you see them smilingand so on, but maybe if you have
a disease and they are fightingwith cancer or another disease
(39:19):
like that, may Allah protect us,or they have a child who is
sick, you never know, we reallyneed to understand everybody's
struggling.
Everybody has the issues.
And believe me when I say, youdon't want to trade your life
with anyone else's because youknow what you've done.
You don't know what they arecarrying like this invisible
burden
Mifrah Mahroof (39:40):
hmm.
Sofia A. (39:40):
and The the the burden that you are carrying it was
chosen for you.
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala, Hesays he doesn't burden any soul
with more than what they carry.
It means that if I am here I'mnot in Gaza, maybe because I'm
not able to carry this burdenthat we are carrying
Mifrah Mahroof (39:57):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (39:57):
Does it mean that I'm never going to get to Jannah, to
paradise?
Mifrah Mahroof (40:02):
Hmm.
Sofia A. (40:03):
That wouldn't be fair because I didn't choose where
I'm going to be born.
I didn't choose Where I'm goingto be in this moment in time, So
I have to do the best With whatAllah has given me at any given
time and if best, could likesome days It's better than
others and it's fine.
We just need to at the end ofthe day You will return to Allah
and we ask everything from himbecause everything is from him
(40:26):
our health, our strength, evenour faith, like saying La ilaha
illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullahsalallahu alayhi wasalam, it's
from him, it's a gift from him,it can be taken at any moment,
so trying to be grateful.
Not compare yourself.
Stop comparing yourself.
Do, like, stay in your lane.
Stay focused on what you can do.
Mifrah Mahroof (40:46):
um,
Sofia A. (40:47):
Check yourself.
Hold yourself accountable and doyour best.
And yeah, just stop tryingcomparing others and just
feeling bad for yourself and,wasting time and energy on
something which is not servinganyone.
And the other thing I wanted tosay as a life hack, because I
really think it's really good,is having a bit counter.
Yeah.
or a Dhikr ring, to do yourDhikr because, it's just a great
(41:10):
way to get you making moreDhikr.
And you will realize that youcan actually, yeah, I mean, you
use one as well.
And you know, like before youwould think, Oh my God, how am I
going to do whatever?
I don't want you to say numbers.
How are I going to do whatevernumber?
But once you get it.
And okay, you're driving, you gogrocery shopping, or you go
(41:33):
walking, you with your kid tothe park, and you keep making
this
Mifrah Mahroof (41:37):
yeah, that's, yeah, that
Sofia A. (41:38):
the end of the day, you look at it and you're like,
wow, I didn't know I could do somany.
Yeah, you can.
And some people would argue,yeah, but you actually, you're
not really there, you're a bitmindless.
And what?
And better being, keep yourtongue moving with the
remembrance of Allah than not.
Mifrah Mahroof (41:54):
actually think it creates mindlessness,
actually, because on the dayswhen I feel like I've used it a
lot, I feel like I'm morefocused and in the
Sofia A. (42:02):
Exactly, exactly, but that's the thing, it's a
limiting belief to say, yeah,when I want to do my dhikr,
Mifrah Mahroof (42:09):
they need to try that.
Sofia A. (42:10):
exactly, exactly, because, like,
Mifrah Mahroof (42:13):
and see, how your day looks like.
Sofia A. (42:15):
yeah, but it's the thing, you think, oh, I have to
be seated in a quiet place on mysalat mat, and then, I take my
matzbih or my finger, for themore rigorous, okay, I just
count on my finger.
I can't do that.
Okay.
After a hundred, I'm lost.
So.
maybe 200, 300 max, and then I'mlost, like, I need help.
Mifrah Mahroof (42:34):
Alhamdulillah,
Sofia A. (42:35):
only then I can do my dhikr, and then I sit there.
But because you never get this,we are like, as mothers, we have
kids running around, and whenare you going to get one, half
an hour, quiet, unless you haveto do that in the morning, like,
after fajr or before Fajr, wheneverybody's
Mifrah Mahroof (42:51):
you don't, you know, always have that
circumstance that's perfect,right?
Sofia A. (42:54):
Exactly.
Exactly.
And then you're deprivingyourself from that because you
can do dhikr in anycircumstances.
Even if you feel like, okay, I Iwas saying that, but I wasn't
there.
Don't worry.
It's going to have an effect.
The more presence you are, themore effect you're going to
have.
But even if you are like, feellike a bit mindless, you're it's
(43:15):
going to have an effect.
Your tongue is going to have aneffect on your mind, on your
heart, and you will reap thebenefit of that very soon,
InshaAllah.
So yeah.
Mifrah Mahroof (43:23):
okay, well, thanks.
that's, some really good LifeHacks, no comparisons and to
have a dhikr beat in your life,a dhikr counter actually.
the last few questions that Ihave is, what's a book that has
helped you level up in yourlife?
Sofia A. (43:35):
I can't think of a specific book that was really,
you know, I mean, except for theQuran.
what kind of answer is that?
We all know we need to need theQuran.
Yeah, but think about it.
How often do you read the Quranand understand what you read?
So I think, we need to give moreattention to the Quran.
because it's the one book you'llnever, ever going to get bored.
(43:57):
You're never going to know allof it.
You will always get newinsights.
You will always feel better,it's just incredible.
It's just a miracle.
Um, but,
Mifrah Mahroof (44:07):
um, actually doing it, reciting the Quran
with the meaning makes adifference too.
Cause when you think Quran, it'sjust like sometimes the
assumption is you just read itwith that understanding and you
just read, read, read, read,read.
Sofia A. (44:19):
Yeah.
So, I can't think of anotherbook right now, but I would say
as well, and it's part of maybethe life hack is sometimes we
don't really have time to sitagain, sit with a book.
It also requires the rightenvironment and so on, but we
can always listen.
Like most of the time we canlisten to something, so
commuting or even being at home,doing your calls, cooking,
(44:42):
whatever you can listen tosomething.
Get into a habit of listening toIslamic lectures.
Like, there's so many out therethat you can listen to.
And soon enough, you will retainsome of this knowledge.
And again, it's better thannothing.
It's better than listening tosomething which is really not
serving you, like there are goodpodcasts out there, but because,
(45:04):
I just didn't prepare a list forthat, obviously listen to, the
Muslim Life Hackers podcast andlisten to my podcast, the Women
of Ihsan podcast, but get intothe habit of listening to
student of knowledge, advancedstudent of knowledge, scholars,
and again, so many topics, andreminders.
(45:25):
The reminders benefit thebelievers.
So get into the habit at leastonce a day.
Listen to a short, if you can't,like you can't listen to a two
hour, one hour class, listen tojust 10, 15 minutes, 20 minutes
every day.
And it's going to make adifference.
Uh, a difference also in yourown, in your mindset,
subhanAllah, your thoughts areinfluenced by, like there's the
(45:48):
input.
What are you consuming?
Like the content you'reconsuming, it is going to have
an effect on your thoughtprocess and your thought having
an influence on your actions.
So it's going to change you.
If you keep listening toreminders, how you get close to
Allah, how you perfect yourSalah, the life of the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, thegood qualities of the believers,
(46:09):
whatever it may be, there are,millions now.
So getting into this habit isreally nice.
Mifrah Mahroof (46:15):
Yeah, that's true.
Okay, awesome.
And, where can our listenersfind you?
Sofia A. (46:18):
So you can find me on Instagram.
It's Sofia.coaching.
I'm also on LinkedIn.
If you get my Instagram, just goon the links in bio, you have
everything.
And the podcast is on Spotify,Apple podcasts, and YouTube.
It's Women of Ihsan.
Subscribe and share and comment.
And yeah,
Mifrah Mahroof (46:38):
Awesome.
Sofia, thank you so much forcoming on.
Sofia A. (46:40):
thank you so much.
It was an honor to be here.
Thank you so much.
Mifrah (46:44):
Hey everyone.
That wraps up another episodefrom the Muslim Life Hackers
podcast.
I really hope you enjoyed ourchat today.
I've got some great takeaways.
if you like what you heard anddon't want to miss out on our
next conversations, hit thatsubscribe button on YouTube,
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, orwherever you're listening to
this from.
It means a lot to us, and ithelps us reach more people who
can benefit from this show.
(47:04):
Thank you again for tuning in.
Until next time, keep strivingand getting better every day.
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