“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years”- Abraham Lincoln.

Another year older, and another year better, inshaAllah! 🙂 Others may disagree with me, but I think birthdays should be celebrated by expressing gratitude to the Almighty for giving us this life in the first place, and for allowing us to be part of the best community: the ummah of the Rasul ﷺ

Our birthdays give us the opportunity to reflect on all the blessings we have been bestowed with, rather than focussing on all the things that we wanted to have achieved by now, but have not. As each year passes, we should be aspiring to be closer to Allah and his Habib ﷺ, and we can use our birthdays as a way of reflecting back on how far we have journeyed towards our Lord. At the end of the day, what we have to remember is that Allah created us and allowed us to experience this world for some great purpose just as Imam al-Ghazali beautifully wrote:

“Know O’Beloved that man was not created in jest, but marvellously made and for some great end”

So, let’s use our birthdays to be grateful for the blessing of life; grateful for having loving parents who brought us into this world; grateful for health and Iman (faith); grateful for wonderful friends and companions; grateful for peace; grateful for hardships and blessings; grateful for………the list is endless!

And to end this note, here is a quote by Billy Mills which I love:

“My life is a gift from the Creator. What I do with it is my gift to the Creator”

Alhumdulilah for everything! 🙂

Sunset in Venice during my recent trip. Photo taken on the iPhone.

Sunset in Venice during my recent trip.
Photo taken on the iPhone.