Review Reclaim Your Heart by Ainin Sofia

English version.

Review Pertama
Author: Yasmin Mogahed
Book: Reclaim your Heart

For the first task we have been given, it was to pick your bestfriend’s book. Madhiah Ghazali, stated she had a few favourite books. It had been easy for her to state the ‘Reclaim your Heart’ book last January. Interestingly, this book was made to be in her syllabus conducted in her weekly usrah. Marvellous reminder, indeed. She told me that the author made the tiny little things that we take for granted looks really valuable, so priceless. If most of the self help books were glued with full of theories, the author took them into practical, she showed the way.

First thing first, I should be grateful to have a nice book to read, to be selected by her which I could enjoy it myself, through the reading journey. It is a self help book, but not a book that you can lightly just flip it on. It was proven by its relevancy and many people read it globally and internationally although it was published years ago, in 2011. You could see how they excitedly react towards this book through the book reviews website, such as Goodreads.
The book is segmented with various parts. They are Attachments, Love, Hardships, Relationship with Creator, Women’s status, Ummah and Poetry. The author explained these very differently.

The world today was full of attachment and is very fragile. Been made more fragile with the illusion of social media, medias and all those shown on screen. People tend to trust everything edited to be true and feel something lacking in them. They try to achieve the false outer acknowledgement, forgetting the ultimate inner goals of Allah.

Attachment parts, the author discussed how hearts were so attached with the worldly life, with the individuals existed in our life, with our beloved belongings, careers and so much more. We seemed to depend on all stuff. We worshiped things and objects. We became consumed by them, believing that they indicated the life status, gave us happiness and make us whole. Because of His Love, Allah tested us like how the parents take the video game who’s a kid has been hypnotized with, just to make him realized that the video game was just a virtual world. He had a real world. The video game had consumed him, harmful if he let it be, beneficial if he could manage it. The dunya was just similar. We had our real world soon, the hereafter. People came and go. So did the things and stuff. Nothing was eternal.

In the Love section, she explained more on marriage tales and how marriage could be treated rightly. The gift from Allah, meant to be the life partner and the marriage itself, should be brings us closer to God, not the other way round. A union of both partners should be made to seek God much easier because half of our Deen has been completed. Marriage is the means, God is the ultimate Goals. God is the priority in our Heart, not our life partner, they are just means for us to bring us closer to Allah. They should be held in the hands, not heart because the heart is the only place for Allah. If we allowed the ocean of dunya, including our life partner into the heart, yes, we would be drowned, our hearts and life might be shackled. We would be enslaved. Furthermore, she elaborated on the pure and true love and pleasure, comparing the false love, felt by the unmarried coupled which was wrongly advertised by the medias. All in all, love by the human and individuals, all are Allah’s gift and the reflection of His Love and beauty. She pinpointed us to fall in love with the Real Love, The Eternal.

Hardships section reminded us the love of Allah through all the tests. The tests were all of His calling’s sign in leading us to make the U-turn. It was all because of His love. The author likes the analogy of being alone in the ocean and having no one to turn to, except Allah because the moment was very powerful. Indeed, we really did not have any assistance in this world, no one could help us, except Allah. In daily life, Allah shuts the entire door, to make us directed the only way to the Divide Help. Similar situations when we felt the pain and loss, disappointment which did hurts us might lead us to the path of God. “The perceived misfortunes are in fact wake up calls” that we rarely see and realized for the moment.

The Relationship with Creator part was my second favourite part after the Attachment section. In this part, the salah topic was discussed so beautifully. The salah we took for granted, she made me appreciated and embraced the salah moments. It was a slap to a statement that salah would be the first thing we would be questioned on the hereafter day but did our lives reflect the priority? During the Isra’ Mikraj, the Prophet was initially given the commandment to pray for 50 times daily, in showing that how important the prayers should hold our life. Imagine praying for fifty times in 24 hours. How many prayer would you perform in one hour? We would not do anything except praying, portraying how our life should revolves around salah. Yes, Allah had made it easier, five time prayers with the reward of fifty but I grieved of how our people take salah so lightly today. Besides, sacred conversation with Allah which was tahajjud and the hidden danger of Facebook and other social medias also being elaborated. Social medias strengthen our focus on people, our loves to be seen and the illusion of the world. They are also powerful tools for the goodness but just be aware that we are not being enslaved by the social medias, sacrificing our freedom.

The Women’s status, Ummah and Poetry did discuss how women had their own respected status although the women’s job were different with the men while Ummah part mentioned the global issues on Muslims. You would love the poetry section also because personally I am fond of them by the message of love to Allah as well as to the Real World, the hereafter.
Last but not least, please be aware in watching and guiding our heart. Do not let the world break us by filling the heart with the right priority, Allah.