One of our reflection prompts this week (Week One of Qur'an in a Year) is 'How do we believe in Allah SWT without seeing Him?'

As a recent revert (March 2022) who was coming from a position of near-atheism, I worried greatly for a while about how it would ever be possible to truly believe in God. But little by slow, Allah SWT, the Gentle and All-Aware, has manifested His presence and care in my life, time and time again.

There are so many examples. I'll write here about two of them. God wiling:

Help during Hajj ****** I made Hajj last year, Alhamdulillah. I didn't sleep much and I got sick too. Not uncommon! But I could often sense that, even though I was often too tired to think straight, Allah SWT was physically guiding me to what I needed most at the time, whether it be a seat on the ground that allowed me some back support, or whether it be medical care or even a local brother who helped me with a wheelchair for tawaf! I was able to complete everything I needed to do for Hajj, Alhamdulillah, but that's because my Rabb gave me everything I needed just as I needed it.

A Ramadan Stretch Goal: Reciting a Juz a Day ***************** Learning to read the Arabic script has been an ongoing challenge. As of late last year I still could recite only a few ayat at a time before I would get mentally tired.

Around that time I began making a du'a that Allah SWT make the Qur'an the spring of my heart and the light of my chest. I recited the du'a for a few weeks and then forgot about it.

Then I found some learning materials online that improved my ability to read the script and to understand some of the grammatical structures and vocabulary in the Qur'an. And as of Sha'ban, I found myself making an intention to recite a juz a day during Ramadan. And Alhamdulillah, Allah SWT opened the way for me to be able to do just that. Was it tough at times? Yes! Was my tajwid good? No. Did it take me a long time to recite one juz a day? Yes, but the time I needed got shorter each day. Did I connect with the Qur'an in a way I never had before? Absolutely.

Long story short, a lot of that 'impostor syndrome' feeling is gone now. I still need good English translations to be able to understand the meanings of the ayat and each surah as a whole, and I have a few favorite tafasir (commentaries) that I rely on as well. But I see this recent Ramadan experience as nothing short of miraculous.

I just remembered the other day that I had been making that du'a, and even though I eventually forgot to keep making it, Allah SWT answered it.

Du'aa **** May Allah SWT grant tawfiq (success) to all of the participants in Qur'an In A Year and may He shower baraka and noor (increase and light) into the lives of the QuranReflect team, Shaykh Saeed, and everyone who's participated in bringing this initiative to us. Barakallahu fikhum.