Quotes From "Reclaim Your Heart: Personal Insights On Breaking Free From Lifes Shackles" By Yasmin Mogahed

My value as a woman is not measured by the size of my waist or the number of men who like me. My worth as a human being is measured on a higher scale: a scale of righteousness and piety. And my purpose in life-despite what fashion magazines say-is something more sublime than just looking good for men. Yasmin Mogahed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So often we think that Allah only tests us with hardships, but this isn’t true. Allah also tests with ease. He tests us with na`im (blessings) and with the things we love, and it is often in these tests that so many of us fail. We fail because when Allah gives us these blessings, we unwittingly turn them into false idols of the heart. Yasmin Mogahed

To empty the heart does not mean to not love. On the contrary, true love, as God intented it, is purest when it is not based on a false attachment. The process of first emptying the heart can be found in the beginning half of the shahada (declaration of faith). Yasmin Mogahed

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