Disclaimer: We are recommending these books as we believe they are beneficial. We do not necessarily endorse 100% of the contents. No book is perfect so we encourage you to remain critical (as you should when engaging any kind of media). 

 

Book title: Reclaim your Heart: Personal Insights on Breaking Free from Life’s Shackles

No. of pages: 192

Readability: This book is easy to understand, relatable, and engaging. It often feels like the author is actually sitting with you and speaking because of the easy and conversation-like language she uses. Its chapters are also short and link well to each other, making the book not just readable but often hard to put down.

What is this book about?

This book redefines love, attachment, loss, happiness, and hardship by reminding its readers of their purpose of finding and pleasing God, and of the nature of this world as a temporary experience. The author draws on many Quranic verses and hadiths to demonstrate how one can free the heart from the disappointing and heartbreaking shackles of this world and its fleeting moments. Together with its relatable examples from everyday life and a sharp understanding of the human struggle to find perfection in an imperfect world, this book guides its readers to look beyond the attachments and attractions of this world and find their freedom in humble submission to God.

Who should read this book?

This book should be read by everyone. There is neither anyone completely immune from the attachments and disappointments of this world, nor in no need of this book’s insightful reminders about the bliss of devoting one’s heart to God. Just as the book states, “Reclaim your Heart will teach readers how to live in this life without allowing life to own you. It is a manual of how to protect your most prized possession- the heart” – and it’s hard to believe that nobody needs such a manual today, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

Who is the author and/or publisher?

This book was written by Yasmin Mogahed, a spiritual instructor and speaker. It was published by FB Publishing.

What is the best part about this book?

While there are many aspects of this book that are insightful, perhaps the most life-changing of all is its constant reiteration that our relationship with this world is a reflection of how sincerely we have believed in the Oneness of God. The author expresses:

“The foundation of Islam is tawheed (Oneness), but tawheed is not just about saying that God is One. It is so much deeper. It is about the Oneness of purpose, of fear, of worship, of ultimate love for God. It is the oneness of vision and focus. It is to direct one’s sight on one singular point, allowing everything else to fall into place.”

As this sentiment is echoed through all the book’s chapters, the book asserts again and again that it is only through God and the purity of our relationship with Him that this world remains in our hands and not in our hearts.

Contents:

• ATTACHMENTS

Why Do People Have to Leave Each Other?

People Leave, But Do They Return?

On Filling the Inner Hole and Coming Home

Emptying the Vessel

For the Love of the Gift

Peace on a Rooftop

The Ocean of Dunya

Take Back your Heart

 

• LOVE

Escaping the Worst Prison

Is This Love That I’m Feeling?

Love is in the Air

The Search for Love

This is Love

Fall in Love with the Real Thing

A Successful Marriage: The Missing Link

 

• HARDSHIPS

The Only Shelter in the Storm

Seeing your Home in Jennah: On Seeking Divine Help

Hurt by Others: How to Cope and Heal

The Dream of Life

Closed Doors and the Illusions that Blind Us

Pain, Loss, and the Path to God

A Believer’s Response to Hardship

This Life: A Prison or Paradise?

 

• RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CREATOR

Looking for God

Salah: Life’s Forgotten Purpose

Salah and the First Kind of Theft

A Sacred Conversation

We Buried a Man Today: A Reflection on Death

Why Aren’t My Prayers Being Answered?

Facebook: The Hidden Danger

Tawakkul: Holding the Handhold that Never Breaks

Tawakkul, Hope and Striving: Three Pieces of a Whole

This is Awakening

 

• WOMEN’S STATUS

The Empowerment of Women

A Letter to the Culture That Raised Me

A Woman’s Reflection on Leading Prayer

Manhood and the Façade of Being Hard

 

• UMMAH

Drop the Prefix

Be Muslim, But Only in Moderation

Unspeakable Tragedy and the Condition of Our Ummah

Today’s Opening of the Red Sea: Reflections on Egypt

 

• POETRY

A Letter to You

I Grieve

Just My Thoughts

A Reflection on Love

I Prayed for Peace Today

On the Struggle of Life

Stillness

Die Before Your Death

Save Me

My Heart is an Open Book

The Stab

Niche

Keep Walking

You can find Reclaim your Heart in English and Arabic at many Islamic bookshops and online stores, including the Darrusalam Bookshop, Coburg.