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Wasfeeya Altalib

~ Welcome to my blog, where I'll be sharing diary posts, bios, motivation & resources. | For hifdh mentorship, contact me on 0793500024 or email wasfeeya@gmail.com.

Wasfeeya Altalib

Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Journey – A Worskhop on Becoming..

20 Tuesday Aug 2019

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Bismillah 

All praises and thanks be to Allah SWT. Abundant salutations be upon His beloved Messenger SAW.

Inspired by the quote “No matter where you are in life, inspire and empower the women around you”, I will be sharing what I’ve learned over the course of my journey as a student of deen & psychology. From change of career-direction and to personal development and spiritual growth, and overcoming self-sabotage along the way✈️⛵️🛸🚀🛥⁣

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We will be using the Journey: A Goal-Setting Journal to put pen to paper and turn dreams into plans🗺📝⁣

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Initially intended to be a goal-setting workshop, it transformed into “Becoming”. Why? “Adults ask kids “What do you want to BE when you grow up?” As if growing up is finite. As if you become something and that is all there is. And my journey is the journey of always, continuously evolving.” – Michelle Obama⁣

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You are capable of amazing things. Allah put you on this earth for a reason. Allah wants you to do something for Him⛰⁣

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BONUS: Do you value personal development & spiritual growth, but struggle with consistency? The post-workshop group or individual accountability will provide support & help keep you on track for a whole month afterwards. You are not alone. ⁣

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Time flies, so Register to save your spot before it’s too late!⁣

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High 5: My First 5 Nights of Ramadan

10 Friday May 2019

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Bismillah

All praises and thanks be to Allah SWT. Abundant salutations be upon His beloved Messenger SAW.

I’m hearing the Eshaa Athaan sounding and even though I can reply to the words of it, I can’t respond to it’s call. I’m grateful that every night for the past 5 nights I got to perform tarāwīh salaah in a different masjid, Alhamdulillah.

Night No. 1: Masjid Tantawi

On the the eve of Ramadan we went to Masjid Tantawi, which is my favourite masjid here. The gifted munshid Mostafa Atef is the imaam for tarāwīh. Eight Raka’āt are performed and half a Juz is recited. The emphasis is on the quality of the recitation, not the quantity. And quality it is👌 MaShaAllah!

This masjid is where government officials offer prayers, so security is tight. Each car is stopped and you have to show your identity/passport.

The masjid is beautiful, inside and out, with a dome and minārat that changes colour. (The clean ladies restrooms are also a drawcard for me.)

For suhūr, we went to a buzzing, local restaurant and experienced loads of people out to eat suhūr before our first day of fasting. We had scrambled eggs, fūl (bean dish) with flat bread, chips, and tamiyah (falafel made from dried beans).

Night No. 2: Masjid Al-Rahmān Al-Rahīm

Night No. 2 was day one of fasting. It was a bit stressful for me because we were hosting guests, so a lot of my day was spent in the kitchen. I listened to a lot of Qur’an while I was busy.

For tarāwīh salaah we went to Masjid Al-Rahmān Al-Rahīm, which is Masud’s favourite masjid because of the recitation. I didn’t want to go there because it is a bit of a distance from our house, but we went. We took a wrong turn on the way, and I got annoyed that we were so late. My husband reminded me to be grateful that I’m even going for tarāwīh.

It is also a beautiful masjid, inside and out. They perform 8 raka’aat and recite a full Juz in the tarāwīh but they include ‘Eshaa salaah in their Khatm as well.

Night No. 3: Masjid Ghufraan

I was glad that I didn’t have to cook because we had ample leftovers from the night before. Masud wasn’t feeling well, so I went alone to the closest masjid in our area. It’s a local masjid that is very simple. The recitation wasn’t that melodious. They perform 8 raka’aat and recite about a Juz. I don’t doubt I’ll be going back to it.

Night No. 4: Masjid Abu Bakr

We had beloved friends from Cape Town in Cairo, so we went to an area called Rehab to meet up for tarāwīh and went for juice at a local juice bar afterwards. This masjid was really beautiful and had a more modern look. We were late because we decided at the last minute to go, and it is quite a distance from Nasr City, our area. We missed the beginning of the tarāwīh but even so, it went really fast. I enjoyed the recitation.

Night No. 5: Masjid Dar Al-Arqam

We had our friends from Cape Town over for iftaar. I love the traditional Ramadan fabric that is all over here in Cairo, so I bought some for a tablecloth. I went with traditional Capetownian treats for iftaar: savouries, boeber and falooda, followed by chicken curry and rice. Boeber is a sweet milk and vermicelli dish and falooda like a milkshake. My friend passed on Salaams from Cape Town and said that someone calls us Egyptonian. (I guess my Egyptian tablecloth + Capetownian food = Egyptonion).

The tarāwīh at Dār Al-Arqam was loooooong😅. It was a full Juz in eight raka’aat, recited slowwwly. At the end of it I was like, Allah, this was difficult, please accept it from me. The highlight for me was the moving qunūt. Even though all the mosques recite a beautiful qunūt in witr, I loved this one, especially how the imaam started it with thanking Allah (SWT) for granting us to be there, to witness the month of Ramadan, for the blessing of īmān. There wasn’t a dry eye in sight. I’m not sure if I’ll go there again but I appreciate having gone, especially now that I can’t go.

I pray that you have a spiritually productive Ramadan.

With best of du’as for your worldly and Hereafter success,

Wasfeeya

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Personal Development & Spirituality Accountability Group

30 Sunday Sep 2018

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Bismillah

Personal Development & Spirituality Accountability WhatsApp Group

Do you value personal development and spiritual growth, but struggle with consistency?

Then this is for you!

Think of daily/weekly habits you want to incorporate into your life – consistently!

Examples:

📿Qur’an reading/memorisation/review/reflection Habit.

📖Reading Habit (think of all the books on your reading list).

📝Learning Habit (think of that online course or YouTube series you started but didn’t finish).

🏋️‍♀️Physical exercise.

How it works

-Set your own habits & share it in the WhatsApp group (You can choose as few/ as many as you like).

Some habits that I recommend you also include if you struggle to be consistent:

100x salawaat Daily

100x istighfaar Daily

5min muraaqaba

Qur’an recitation: an amount that you can be consistent with.

-Choose your own “rewards” for consistency and “punishments” for inconsistency.

-Check-in daily to say whether you have done what you set out to, and if not, why not.

-Be supported by like-minded ladies.

-You will be deleted from the group without notice if you do not check-in for 3 consecutive days, but not if don’t do what you set out to do. (Knowing this keeps you on your toes! It might sound scary but it’s not. Life happens and that’s okay!)

You need to choose your own rewards and punishments because you know what would be really rewarding and what would be a deterrent to you.

Examples of rewards:

-Buying yourself something you’ve wanted for a long time.

-Taking yourself out on a date.

For the punishment, perhaps give money to a cause that is dear to you but that money was needed for something far more important, so it would be a sacrifice. Perhaps if you’re a chocolate lover, consider depriving yourself of eating chocolate for a month.

-WhatsApp groups are limited to 10-12 ladies only.

-Registration is for one month only, and you are welcome to renew your subscription monthly to work on the same or new habits, for as long as you would like to.

-I am happy to give you a WhatApp call if you want to speak about what you would like to be more consistent in and get some help with setting goals

“Do something everyday that your future self will thank you for!”

-For Info on Registration:

📲WhatsApp Wasfeeya: +27793500024

💻wasfeeya@gmail.com

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3 Year Anni

17 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by Wasfeeya in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Bismillah

All praises and thanks be to Allah SWT. Abundant salutations be upon His beloved Messenger SAW.

My husband said that if I told him it was my hifdh anniversary he would’ve taken me out. I didn’t want to make a big deal of it. I write this post rather reluctantly. I wouldn’t want anyone reading this to think to herself “I can’t even recite properly and look where she’s at.” So I clarify my intention and I pray that this post is a means for you to reflect on and renew your Qur’an goals InShaAllah, especially with Ramadhān around the corner.

When I completed my hifdh, I had no idea I’d be living with my husband in Egypt three years later, reciting for my third sanad & ijāza in three years.

I actually really badly wanted to study at Bayyinah Institute in the US and even got accepted there. It just wasn’t meant to be. It was devastating to me. But I’ve learned time and again that Allah doesn’t take anything away from you without replacing it with better. You really have to convince yourself that whatever Allah chooses for you is most beneficial for you. I’m currently learning conversational Arabic at Fajr Centre for the Arabic language, Alhamdulillah. I’m grateful that Allah SWT accepted my intention to study Arabic, and facilitated it for me. I encourage you to make the intention to do what you yearn to do, and leave the facilitation thereof to your Creator, Nourisher and Sustainer who only has to say “Be” if He chooses to.

Completing my hifdh is still the hardest thing I’ve done, and it remains a daily challenge. It’s so worth every moment of effort though, especially being able to open up the Qur’an anywhere and recite without mistakes, being able to teach others, and standing in Tarāwīh Salaah.

Despite it being so beautiful, I’m only human and sometimes feel lazy, in which case I watch this video for motivation. I hope that it benefits you too. If you have data issues or prefer to read, here is the transcription of the speech, Laziness and Idleness in Seeking Knowledge.

May Allah SWT forgive us for neglecting the Qur’an, and make us of the true people of the Qur’an.

You can read about my one year hifdh anniversary and two year hifdh anniversary too🙈.

With best of du’as for your worldly and Afterlife success,

Wasfeeya

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Welcome to Egypt!

24 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by Wasfeeya in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Bismillah

All praises and thanks be to Allah (SWT). Abundant salutations be upon His beloved Messenger Muhammad (SAW).

Egypt is not for everyone. Apparently you either hate it or love it here. I was concerned that I wouldn’t like it here, because of the negative things I heard about it back home. But by the Grace of the Almighty, I love it here! Alhamdulillah!

There are things that you have to overlook. Like professionalism and customer service is not even a thing here, let alone great customer service. People think Home Affairs in South Africa is bad. My family’s having a reunion that I’m dying to attend but there’s no ways we’re going to get our visas processed in time😩😩😩.

Last week we went to the Masarawi Institute to enrol for Qur’an classes. The administrator wasn’t in so we spoke to the substitute person. We booked morning time slots, but the next day we were told there are no morning time slots available. Welcome to Egypt!

After enrolling at the Masarawi Institute, I went to Fajr Institute for the Arabic language to start my first class, only to find out that it was already over. They changed the time without informing me. Welcome to Egypt!

With that being said, there are amazing benefits to being here. Like the most qualified Qur’an teachers in the world teaching you in the comfort of your home. Welcome to Egypt!

I’m starting to get used to my school week starting on Saturdays and ending on Wednesdays, and adjusting to the different salaah times too. Being a night person as opposed to a morning person, I love the night life over here! I’ve never seen a traffic jam at night before. The range of food outlets and fresh fruits here are to die for, and they are open until super late, which is really convenient, Alhamdulillah.

May Allah SWT grant us a blessed and beneficial stay, and accept the intentions of everyone wanting to study deen. Aameen.

With best of du’as for your worldly and Hereafter success,

Wasfeeya

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Bride Brain

22 Monday Jan 2018

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Bismillāhir-Rahmānir-Rahīm

All praises and thanks are due to Almighty Allah SWT. Abundant salutations be upon His Beloved messenger SAW.

I officially have Bride brain. I thought I made it up, but Future Halal Bae did a Google search and guess what? It’s a real thing!

Getting married brings about SO many things to do. It’s not just about getting a dress and a suit and securing a venue, unfortunately.

Alhamdulillah, we’ve completed 3 sessions of pre-marital counselling amidst all the running around, and we’re having a notarised marriage contact drawn up. These things are of utmost importance to me and I believe they’re really non-negotiable, no mater how little time you have. I’m grateful to our pre-marital Counsellor, Sumaya Hoosain (who can be contacted on +27 78 633 9000. Our wonderful Marriage Contract Facilitator is Fahmeda Walls (who can be contacted on +27 (84) 4333236). May Allah SWT bless them and their marriages. Āmīn.

We’ve had our fair share of DRAMA! I won’t even go there. At this point I just want our wedding to be over so we can chill on our honeymoon. I sometimes envy some of my besties for getting to have just a nikaah, MaShaAllah. May Allah increase their marriages in mawaddah (love) and rahmah (mercy). Āmīn.

We’ve met with our parents regarding wedding planning, a jeweller for my ring; our wedding videographer and photographer, the list goes on.

It doesn’t help that I’ve been irritable. I don’t know whether to blame wedding stress or the patch which I started using just over a week ago. Even though my wedding dress is not done, Im nowhere near done packing and my room is a mess, I’m leaning towards blaming the patch.

I went to the amazing Dr. Yasmin Brey for a consultation. She prescribed the patch as it is the best option for me, under my circumstances. I’m not the kind to take pills every day. I go through phases of consistently taking vitamins and omega tablets, but the consequences of skipping them is not life changing, thankfully.

Wedding planning has been spiritually depleting. It doesn’t have to be. But I’ve let myself slip. May Allah SWT forgive me and guide me.

I know that everything will turn out the way it’s meant to, whether according to our plan or not. May Allah SWT always grant us contentment with His decree. May He guide and protect our marriages and let them be blessings, not trials. Āmīn.

Remember us in your du’as.

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Current Read: The Surrendered Wife

27 Wednesday Dec 2017

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Bismillah

Current read: The Surrendered Wife. Because I believe in preparing for my marriage way better and more than for my wedding.

I now realise why marriage is so difficult. Or challenging -sometimes, at the very least. I’m someone who has something to say about everything and I’m learning that if I want a successful marriage, I’m going to have to learn to keep my mouth shut. Especially about inconsequential things. So I’m trying. It’s not about simply keeping my opinion to myself, but about relinquishing wanting to have control over everything. According to the author, Laura Doyle, what I see as wanting to help, my husband sees as controlling.

As I was reading the book, I thought about all the scenarios that played out where I had something to say. Like how I commented on the inappropriateness of my fiancé wearing bed-slippers to my house. (He had come from mosque, and they steal shoes at the mosque – for those who don’t understand why he’d wear bed-slippers to the mosque).

I had something to say about his wedding suit: It looks too casual; the collar needs to be broader. He then expressed how much he likes it. Oops. I recognised my wanting to control. So when he asked me what colour shirt and tie to wear, I restrained myself from sending him pictures I’d saved off the internet, and gave him the freedom to choose whatever he liked. Though I still wanted to see what he chose. I did not like the tie. But did I say so? Nope. I didn’t lie either. This book does not teach you to lie. I simply replied that I’m sure it will look great on him in person InShaAllah.

Interestingly, Laura Doyle explains that this need to control developed because a woman was let down at some point in her life:

Through reading this book, I intend to be an awesome wife in the very near-future, InShaAllah. I’m learning to relinquish control, pay attention to how I respond and receive graciously.

Alhamdulillah, I can’t be grateful enough to Allah SWT for blessing me with my future halal bae of incredible character. May Allah SWT guide our impending marriage. Āmīn.

Please feel free to share your marriage advices with me.

With best of du’as for your worldly and Hereafter success,

Wasfeeya

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Wedding Planning with Future Halal Bae

10 Sunday Dec 2017

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Bismillah

I love that future halal bae is into wedding planning. He’s more on the ball than I am! Can you believe it? We’re meeting the wedding venue people tomorrow InShaAllah. We’re fortunate to have found an available wedding venue at such short notice. Apparently people usually book wedding venues a year in advance. I will not reveal the venue out of fear of gate-crashers, when I have already decided to cut down our total number of guests from four hundred to three hundred. Please don’t be offended if you’re not invited; we’re both students on a budget at this point in our lives. Maybe you’ll be invited to our future children’s weddings InShaAllah.

So we met yesterday at my house, just us, without any distracting input just yet. Coz it’s our day and it’s about what we want. We went through the nikaah program, chose our reception playlist and discussed our photoshoot spots around Cape Town. We’re fortunate to have relatively chilled parents who are supportive of our decisions. Alhamdulillah.

I initially felt like I was forced into having a big wedding that I didn’t want. Not having a wedding was not even an option for my parents. A part of me still wishes I could skip the whole wedding reception, out of doing what I believe to be most pleasing to our Creator. Even though I am a girly girl and I have been dreaming of a beautiful wedding my whole life. I mean, I had a bride Barbie doll and all. But I would prefer a small, intimate wedding, ideally at a venue called the Baronness. Since we decided on a joint reception, it’s unfortunately too small so it sadly can’t be an option.

I am starting a separate wedding blog soon InShaAllah, which will hopefully be useful to others planning their wedding too.

With best wishes for your worldly and Hereafter success,

Wasfeeya

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He Saw Me on YouTube & Now We’re Getting Married

07 Thursday Dec 2017

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Bismillah

Halal love stories are beautiful but mine is my favourite. He saw me on YouTube and now we’re getting married. #TrueStory

Future halal bae asked me when I’m blogging again, so I started this post while waiting on my beautician this morning.

But I’m jumping the gun. Let me rewind. He came across my hifth completion video on YouTube in January last year and saw someone he knew in it, so he contacted her. She told him I’m engaged. He contacted her again in January this year, after my ambiguous Facebook post:

She again told him I’m engaged. What happened with that guy was the typical story of boy and and girl want to get married but the parents say no, finish your education first. I was expecting to get married in December last year, but then I was asked to wait, hence this Fb post. The bottom line is that it was not meant to be. Even though we both felt positive post-istikhaarah, Allah did not facilitate it, which was His way of saying no; I have better plans for you.

I saw my friend (who was in the YouTube vid) at a wedding on the 2nd of July this year, she asked me when’s “the big day”. I broke the news that I’m not getting married anymore. She was like, “why didn’t you send out a BC?” Inside joke: I send out WhatsApp broadcast messages all the time of news and events, but I didn’t send out this message. Anyway, she told me this guy’s been asking about me. I checked him out on Facebook, coz that’s the first thing you do.

I had never been more convinced that it was not going to work out, but I firmly believe in giving things a chance. And look what happened.

How did I know he was “the one”?

There were many instances for me. Firstly, I was happy with all of his answers to my questions.

Another instance I just knew was when he told me, “I don’t need you to make me happy. And I’m sure you feel the same way.” I thought to myself, “Yes! Now that’s my man!”

Another was when I did something he didn’t like, which was reason enough for him to call it off, but he overlooked it.

I could go on, but I won’t. He needs to still believe he’s the lucky one in the relationship.

Gosh I feel like this blog post is all over the show. I still need to post the list of questions we asked each other. It’s in my holiday plans to update my blog, so please be patient with me.

With best of du’as for your worldly and Hereafter success,

Wasfeeya

+27793500024

wasfeeya@gmail.com

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Fallen Angel

14 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by Wasfeeya in Uncategorized

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Bismillah

All praises and thanks be to Allah. Abundant salutations be upon His and our beloved. (SAW).

Someone posted this on their WhatsApp story yesterday. I thanked them for sharing, because I really needed to see it.

I wish I came across it earlier.

Because it’s been on my mind since I came to know about it. I didn’t want to write about it because I could not fathom it. I’m sure it’s really stale news by now. But if you follow Islamic YouTube lectures and social media, you would probably have an idea of what I am referring to. I give the case the benefit of the doubt, and husnul-dhan (thinking the best about a believer), but the cloud of doubt itself shocked me.

Through this quote I came across yesterday, I realised I was so disturbed and couldn’t deal because I had attached perfection to a particular person, instead of attaching perfection to Allah SWT alone.

Yasmin Mogahed is another person who is truly gifted, I mean, she couldn’t have put it better. But instead seeing her gift, I consciously choose to see the Giver of her gift. And I ask Him to protect her always. And everyone else in a similar position. Aameen.

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