In November, Kelly Skinner of Soul Care invited me onto her wonderful podcast Everything is Spiritual. We had a joyful conversation about Islamic Sufism and my spiritual journey from a Protestant Christian exploring Catholicism to a Gandhian living in a Hindu-Muslim household, to a staunch (कट्टर) Sunni and Universal Sufi. We speak of how I integrate spirituality into my daily life, mental health, kindness, acceptance, turning pop music into a spiritual discipline, and the importance, beauty, and power of the Arabic Quran. We laugh frequently and share a lot!

Kelly shared with me about Richard Rohr and his work Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, as well as theological deconstruction. She shared with me how she’s very much a person who wants to integrate spirituality and everyday life because spirituality is everyday life, which I loved discussing with her. If you’d like to learn more about Kelly and her work, see “When Faith Speaks” or visit Soul Care in-person and online.

Below are two highlights from our conversation:

“The Sunnis teach me how to discipline the soul. The Sufis how to love and let go. And I love meeting Sunni Sufis because they are very serious and sincere in their practice. And so there’s a lot you can learn, there’s so much you can learn from them because if you meet someone and maybe you have different perspectives on certain points of belief but they excel at something and they are sincere, and they genuinely care, and they put their whole heart and soul into it, that’s something admirable.”

“Sometimes the things that don’t go our way or cause us the most pain or times when we can’t like maybe the people in our lives that we ended up not being able to work it out with, I found that they are your greatest teachers. Maybe they weren’t trying to teach you. But they actually ended up being that way.”

Please share your thoughts on the podcast; I would love to hear what spoke to you and why! Also, any feedback you have is most welcome.

From one needy of your dua,

Your sister,

m

PS. I will be sharing one short chapter or verse from the Quran in Arabic and English on Instagram. Last Sunday, I explained my reasons for doing this and recited Surah al-Zalzalah. This Sunday, I will be sharing Surah Quraysh (Insha’Allah). I am very grateful to Shaykh Ismail al-Qadi for working with me and supporting this undertaking. And success is only from Allah!