If you intend to make hajj this year or know someone who will do so – God willing – you might want to take a minute for these three tips that you may or may not have read somewhere else.

The inner process of purification of the soul is of an important goal of fasting. Allah, glory be to Him, explains in the Quran that the aim of fasting in Ramadan is lead to more Allah consciousness and increasing gratitude to Him.

Trying to become an Arab is not a requirement; it is also an unnecessary difficulty. You will fail if you try to be or become that which you are not. Those who mistakenly mix accepting Islam to denying their own cultural identity often fail at the latter…

Being active in the field of dawah and support of new Muslims, I hear and see many stories of different converts and their parents. One day, as I was preparing to help a new sister to say the shahadah in a mosque in Amsterdam…

If you are contemplating to become a Muslim and you cannot directly find a Muslim gathering in which you can state your shahadah, this is not a problem. Islam is a realistic religion; it never requires something which is impossible to do for a person.

Step by step, I leave all materialistic matters and privacy behind me until I sleep outside underneath the clear sky. To return to God is to return to oneself. Everything that ties you down in this world slowly disappears. Your choices and strength of belief surface. It is a learning experience.