1st Place:
The author shares her experience of Ashara beautifully in words with it’s unique title “The Constants”. Attending Ashara with Maula is surely the best start for a fruitful year and an azeem nemat. I have never attended any Ashara with Maula but the desire to make it a constant of my life is a craving in my heart. That desire is the real reason behind this article being my favorite. Though after reading the article about super seeds I started having them regularly. Thank you Mighzal!
– Sakina M. (s_m149)
2nd Place:
This is my most favourite article which has inspired me thoroughly!
It is because when at times things become very tough, times when I am stuck, times when I find no route, times when I am sad .. Maula(tus) words strike me “khuda mumeen ne imam Husain a.s na gam siva koi gam na dikhave” and these words keep on echoing till I finally connect to the correct route ‘The route of Karbala’ this is the place where I find all my answers…especially at times when I have to prove my identity.. when the question arises about being a Mumina and living in a heartless place -where there is no place for being ‘you’…where you are constantly busy ‘proving yourself to modernized society’ (especially if you are a woman)….I find solace and get courage from Maulatena Zainab AS the one who never lets me forget who I am. And where I have to head towards….as perfectly described in above article…Maulatena Zainab AS ajab shaan na Ben, navasi, shehzadi, maa, Faiji hata….the way Maulatena Zainab lead her life is what I am truly inspired by…this is what teaches me ‘My identity’…shows me the correct path to follow …and with My name ‘zainab’ given by Aqa Maula (tus) adds to the inspiration and strength (:
I feel blessed to be a mumena..feel blessed to be follower of Dai of Zainab AS- Syedna na Aali Qadar Mufaddal Saifuddin (tus) aap maula na sabab aqeedo mazboot thatoj jae che
Khuda aqa maula (tus) ni umar shareef ne ta qayamat daraz ane daraz karjo ..aameen!
– Zainab
3rd Place:
Although I love several articles on the Mighzal website, this is one of my favourite posts because it helped me more than just directly. For Moharram, I would be missing a few days of school and my family is conscious of how I always despise skipping school. Although I was well aware in advance of the days I’d be missing and how I’d make up for them and that it really wasn’t that great of a sacrifice on my part to miss them, I felt like my family though that I would not be as enthusiastic about attending vaaz. I didn’t know how to tell them to calm down and not worry and that everything’s okay with me.
So by recreating that Mighzal post, I was able to show *something* of my sentiments to my family (I’m not usually very expressive about my feelings to them).
And, of course, the undeniable fact that the post was an invaluable guide to packing, and, in hindsight, helped me by volumes.
– Amatullah V.
Out of our 30 entries, we had 10 that really touched and inspired us. Here they are!
Top 10
- Hello there! I found out about this competition through a friend’s post,
It sparked a flame of interest, so I visited your page and I’m glad I did that
The article with Mrs. Duriya caught my eye! She’s everything I want to become one day!
I read the whole article twice, construed each and every word, picturing the situation, it made me so beatific!
I wanted to become a writer too, but the road seemed so grueling.. Not anymore! I see a future me in Mrs. Duriya, and InshaAllah with the Dua Mubarak of Aqa Moula TUS already bestowed upon me, I shall become a writer InshaAllah 🙂 The hardships she faced, I can say I’m going through the same, and there are many a times I’ve almost given up due to circumstances, but there’s always an angel whom I call my best friend@zain_alibhai, she’s always there to pull me up when I’ve sat down and be like ‘nei thai hawe’She says ‘Hebuu! Ubhi tha, you’re not backing out after making it this far’
@mighzal & Mrs. Duriya you inspired me to believe in my dreams again! Thank you so much ❤
– Amena T. - Rumana Aunty weaves a compelling narrative (aided, of course, by insightful questions from the mighzal team) – a bubbly, effervescent child with latent potential suddenly thrust into the world of psychology and academia.She mentions counselling sessions where she encourages her students to “just listen” and this resonates because I’ve always felt that there is immeasurably more left inside than what comes out in words and I’m sure all of us recognise (perhaps unconsciously) that people speak, not words, never words.
She sees (and through her we, too, see) people and the elemental human condition that befalls us all – the problems plaguing us might be and are different but the need for cherished companionship is the same.
It is awfully humbling to realise that no matter the terrain we traverse, our collective consciousness demands that we are the same and this realisation possibly connects us to each other much more than anything else could.
– Arwa - My favourite post on@mighzal definitely is “memories”, by Zainab V.The write up is written so beautifully and the way it spreads this soothing, calming effect on the soul is absolutely the reason why I love this post so much!
The feelings which have been written, much like flowed like a river in context to the Ashara Mubaraka are so relatable that one cannot help but relate and agree to them.
Ashara Mubaraka is an occasion when the mumineen from all over the world unite on the zikr of Imam Husain, and nobody but our MAULA can perform such a wonder!
The 10 days of bukah pass by so swiftly but not without the great teachings of sabr and himmat. As the tears ride down our cheeks on the last day of Moharram, one cannot help but anticipate the next Ashara! From the rush, to the usain bolt energy that one acquires during Ashara and of course the noorani kalemaat mubarak and awaz mubarak of our Dai!
The feelings and the memories have been so fabulously expressed that one can’t help but get nostalgic and enchanted!
– Khadija H. - This heartfelt photograph capturing a father hugging her daughter on her wedding day took me back to my wedding; the day when I probably felt heavier in my heart than no other time before just thinking about how I’ll ever get through my future, a new home, a new life, a new journey, without my father holding my hands through every step of the way. Just like the way Maulatena Sakina (AS) used to lay gently on the chest of her father, our Imam Husain (AS), I held such proud closeness to my best friend and king who taught me everything I needed in my life to stay rooted to my values and who, most importantly, of all things, taught me that we have a father above us, our Maula (TUS) Shafeeq.Reading through this beautiful blog, my take on is it that we can most certainly overcome any hurdles we face in our married lives, but we can only gain the strength to do so if we are rooted to our Maula (TUS), our ultimate father, and our ultimate king. I may have left my father 12 years ago, but only to hold my hands tighter with my other father waiting to take me through this venture called “marriage”.
Oh, how lucky we are to have our hands held through every happiness and every sorrow in our lifetime.
– Tasneem S. - The first 2-3 paragraphs of this article took me down memory lane rewinding 12-15 years of my life when my deeni journey started with one of the pillars of Islam; Namaz. When I used to come home from school, my mami (aunt) wouldn’t let me have my lunch till I prayed namaz; my nani (grandmother) wouldn’t let me watch TV till I prayed namaz and I HATED it. I would sit and sulk and then finally after 2 hours, drag myself to the bathroom to do wuzu because there was no way I was getting my way.
After months and months of such regulation, today, I couldn’t be more particular; it is still a work in progress with some fajr na gutlis and I’m definitely not perfect; never, but because of my overall discipline with namaz, I have come to realize, that upbringing is EVERYTHING; that FAMILY is everything – without them, I’d be a lost soul today.
– Insiya K. - I loved this post – informative and charming, it really did the job of making me sigh and think “I’ve got to stop making excuses and get on this”. All the medical and scientific detail was easy to digest, which isn’t easy when you’re using the word thymohydroquinone in your article. What’s more, there was such a genuine heart to the piece and I love the subtle links to the wider promises of our faith. That final sentence is just adorbs, too.
– Zazusebastian - For the #1kmighzalgiveaway and #themighzaldiary; I had known about #mighzal but didn’t really pay attention or read the posts or wasn’t even following them here on Instagram, until someone shared this post on WhatsApp. It’s titled ‘Living the Battle of Karbala.’ It’s a beautifully composed article by my friend (can we be friends, please?) @murtazadaud.
For me, the title itself was clickbait. It started with Murtaza bhai being a fanatic about war and watching documentaries about war. I started with Lord of the Rings (keep reading) but then I did move onto watching actual documentaries of war and which is what got me hooked on to this article. As I read I realized this is not targeted to a specific demographic. It was amazing how you could see this short piece, or at least what it felt like, in all aspects of life.
Reading this article again makes you want to go to war. Not in the usual sense, of course. Winning this giveaway would be nice but to express the fire that this article sets in me to go get-things-done is more than if I had watched a Casey Neistat vlog. I believe this should be a preface to a book written by Murtaza Bhai himself.
-Yousuf S. M. - This blog post really resonated with me because, like MRYM says, “shedding tears is not an easy thing,” and crying- the “اظهروا النوح و العويل”-did not come naturally to me at first. I had to consciously try and look for the tears inside me. I envied those who could listen to 30 seconds of Imam Husain’s (AS) zikr and have their eyes fill with tears. But once Mufaddal Moula (TUS) made us realize that to cry was, to quote MRYM, “in our DNA”, something just clicked for me. I slowly but surely turned into that person who was able to show her emotion and her gham without having to consciously think about it. MRYM’s artwork, together with her words, completely captured that moment of self-discovery, that sense of magic, and it sent tingles down my spine. Bonus: her watercolors are so beautiful!
– Zainab.
- Before I gait, my wit wheels around the notion ” Su mara aa amal si mara Maula(tus) khush thase?” And thus the lantern illuminates my path righteously. I mark my stance courageously with poise. Holding my grace I vanquish my hurdles, never discounting on the fact that I have some indubitable bounds. I do what I love and I love what is right. And I love because I feel; I caress my wounds my sorrows my learning my passions and most eminently my beauty of heart. Not because I am a women of Islam but rather I am the Beauty of Islam
– Sakina F. - Okay, so it was really hard for me to pick one article because I can relate to so many but in the end, I decided on this one. The reason: This article puts into words the exact feelings I had during Houston Ashara after Moula TUS’s beeji waaz Mubarak. I’ve grown up in England and didn’t pay much attention to halal and non-halal for a long long time but Houston Ashara changed everything for me. This article reminded me of that moment and how it changed my life and the barakat that I’ve been blessed with since then.
PS – Mighzal is just amazing, thank you so much for creating something so great!!
– Sarrah M.
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