[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":108},["ShallowReactive",2],{"sanity-ZBM1j6HX1YhCq5nSXgeMmGR7TcOmbmHYDtzIYopIpXU":3},{"advertisements":4,"counts":5,"featuredStory":10,"quickReads":17,"recentContent":42},[],{"polls":6,"qa":7,"quizzes":8,"stories":9},1,57,11,39,{"_id":11,"excerpt":12,"imageUrl":13,"publishedAt":14,"slug":15,"title":16},"e7950e97-1b44-4ce1-b23a-a0ad691451d7","My parents told me I was Muslim. They taught me the basic teachings of Islam: how to behave, treat others and distinguish halal and haram. I knew I was Muslim, but I did not know what that meant. They told me I should pray, but they did not enforce it. My parents never pressured me to practice and I grew up in a neighborhood with few Muslims. However, when I would see my parents read Qur’an and pray daily it made me curious.\n\nWhen I was twelve, as I watched my mom pray, I thought to myself: “Why don’t I know how to pray? Will I go through life not knowing?” I felt guilty. I asked my mom to teach me, she told me to listen and learn from watching her. I did not know what she was saying or the meaning behind bending down and standing back up. I knew if I continued learning like this, I would not understand what I was reciting. I wanted to have a better understanding of Islam and its teachings. I wanted to feel close to Allah. I did not want my religion to be a mundane ritual.\n\nIt was then that I decided to teach myself. After I memorized an English translation prayer book, I began praying in English and did so for about a year. Although I was praying, I knew something was missing. I knew in my heart that I should learn how to pray in Arabic because there are many English translations, yet there is only one Arabic version. It took a lot of pausing and replaying of YouTube videos, but I finally learned after a month of studying.\n\nDuring my first year at UCLA, I learned to read and write in Arabic with the help of a wonderful professor and because Allah helped me throughout the way. Initially, I was afraid to take on this challenge. I thought it would be impossible to learn the Arabic language. I had no previous knowledge and I thought I would not have the time. I am sharing my story with you because this experience taught me that if you strive to do something for the sake of Allah, He will make it easy for you.\n\nMy Parents and I \u003C3\n\nBefore, I thought Islam was a set of difficult rituals, however I have learned it is a way of life. Now, praying is something I enjoy and I cannot imagine my life without Islam and Allah. My intention was to learn and connect with my religion. I did not want to continue life having doubts every day.\n\nToday, I cannot thank my parents enough for how they raised me. I consider myself lucky. I know others whose parents have taught them about Islam, but they take it for granted. They do not put their knowledge into action. It is one thing when you learn because you are told to, and it is another thing, if you learn because you want to. By not forcing Islam on me and my siblings, my parents made us find answers for ourselves.\n\nI am still on my journey as a Muslim. These days, I am trying to memorize verses of the Qur’an and I read it daily in English and Arabic. I am not sure how difficult or time consuming my journey will be, but one thing I know is that Allah is always by my side, guiding me through the way.","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002F9c7f7c30361dc6ea0f83e22336e2ab4e76b569bc-540x348.png","2026-06-12T17:58:00.000Z","my-journey-to-islam","My Journey to Islam",[18,28,35],{"_id":19,"authorImage":20,"authorName":21,"category":22,"excerpt":23,"imageUrl":24,"publishedAt":25,"slug":26,"title":27},"4cc43c7c-a7ab-450b-88af-f30004b49f33","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002F5d9a673139600680001022d0cd6d2f7bdbe22ec5-828x1114.png","Michelle Schafieh","STORY","“Or were they created by nothing, or were they the creators [of themselves]?” (Quran Surah 52. Ath Thuur verse 35)\n\nDuring my first year at UCLA, I decided to go to a Dawah workshop held by one of the brothers involved in the MSA. The goal of the workshop was to teach Muslims how to share our faith with non-Muslims. I thought it would be a lecture where I would sit and listen to a speaker for about an hour. When I got there, the first question the speaker asked us was: “How do you know God exists?” He began going around and asking each one of us, and I started to get nervous because I never really thought of this question. There were a few people answering before me, which gave me a bit of time to think. I was anxious because I felt that I did not have enough religious knowledge to even answer. Brothers and sisters were giving all sorts of responses such as scientific proof and other evidence shown in the Qur’an. Then, it was my turn to answer.\n\n“How do you know there is a God?” he asked. I could not really think of any clever responses, so I just gave the simplest answer that popped into my head. “I just know He does. I know because every time I hear recitation of the Qur’an or listen to a lecture about Islam; I get this feeling in my heart that is unexplainable.” It is a feeling that gives me goose bumps, but at the same time accompanies calmness.\n\nIt has been three years since I attended the lecture, and I know that I will never forget this question. I continue to think about it, and realized that there are so many answers to this question and each time I think about it, my answer changes. One particular scenario that I once heard in an Islamic lecture really helped me think about the existence of God. The speaker told us to imagine being alone in a desert, and then spotting a cell phone on the sand. You then ask yourself: could that cellphone somehow randomly appear on its own? Did all the parts somehow magically come together? No, someone had to design the phone, make the chip, etc. The wind did not just bring all the parts together creating this phone; there had to be a creator. Similarly, the human body, system and organs could not have randomly come together to form a human being. Just looking at the details of the human eye and heart alone, I know Allah (SWT) is the only plausible explanation.\n\nI want to share this experience because the question may sound simple, but we sometimes forget to just pause and think about it. The answer is difficult because the response is different for each of us. Having this thought in the back of my mind has helped me become more God conscious and feel closer to my creator. Take a few minutes and try to answer it: How do you know God exists? Feel free to comment so we may all benefit insha’Allah. May Allah (SWT) strengthen our relationship with him.","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002F00e46dd219a201e70714926a2917c0d13e802169-1024x683.jpg","2026-06-12T17:57:00.000Z","how-do-you-know-there-is-a-god","How Do You Know There is a God?",{"_id":29,"authorImage":20,"authorName":21,"category":22,"excerpt":30,"imageUrl":31,"publishedAt":32,"slug":33,"title":34},"6b2d4a69-fa28-4fad-b570-b3092c9f73b5","Ramadan. It is that time of year again where you are checking the time more than you are checking snapchat, where you are talking less to those around you in fear of scaring them off with your breath, and where you are basically receiving all sorts of questions from those around you.\n\nDuring this time, a lot of our non-Muslim friends and colleagues ask us why we fast, and the most common answer that most of us give is: to feel empathy with the less fortunate. Yes, this is true, but what does the Qur’an really tell us about fasting?\n\nIn surah Al-Baqarah [2:183] Allah (swt) says “O you have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous.” This verse instructs us to fast during the month of Ramadan by way of our imaan. It is teaching us that the purpose isn’t to lose weight or show off, but it is teaching us to willing fast out of the sincereness of our faith. Secondly, the verse also mentions that fasting will help attain righteous (taqwa). But what does attaining righteousness really mean? When we fast, we enter a spiritual state of mind that teaches us to be obedient to our Creator. This means forbidding what is wrong and engaging in what is right. Think of it this way, by controlling your desire for food (something that you cannot truly live without), you are also training your mind on how to control your desires and temptations (things your are able to live without).\n\nThis Ramadan, really take sometime to ask yourself why you are fasting. Yes, fasting does help us empathize with the less fortunate. But why not just, spend a day with a homeless? Yes, fasting does help us refrain from becoming angry, but why don’t we just take some anger management classes? Why is it that we fast for a month during a certain period every single year? As you see, there are many objectives to fasting, but the number one objective is to please our Creator. May Allah (swt) accept all of our fasts, forgive all our sins, and increase our imaan. Ameen.","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002Ffbc3bd59daf848c6d68131a325df76ce1d21974d-1536x891.png","2026-06-12T17:55:00.000Z","why-do-we-need-to-fast","Why Do We Need to Fast?",{"_id":36,"authorImage":20,"authorName":21,"category":22,"excerpt":37,"imageUrl":38,"publishedAt":39,"slug":40,"title":41},"e7c425ed-74be-46fa-9908-27e11e83b6df","Growing up in Los Angeles, I had only met a few Muslims but I never imagined that I would be living with one. As a freshman in college, I was very excited to dorm and meet new people, but it was a little frightening not knowing my roommates and most importantly, not knowing if we were going to get along.\n\nBefore registering to dorm at UCLA, I agreed to room with a high school classmate thinking that it would be less difficult to adjust to a new place. The only thing that I did not know was that my classmate, Michelle, was Muslim.\n\nThe first day we moved in, my roommates and I sat together to get to know each other. That is when Michelle told us that she was Muslim. My other roommate and I stared at each other for a second. I was surprised because she did not look like what I initially thought Muslims looked like.\n\nThe next thought that came to my mind was how living together would turn out. My worry was whether our cultures were going to clash and cause a problem with our living situation. After speaking for a while, my roommate and I reassured her that we would try our best to make her feel comfortable by respecting her beliefs and her religion.\n\nAt first, I was a bit scared that Islam was significantly different from Catholicism. I thought that her religion was going to be made up of radical ideas like sacrificing other people and oneself for God. Everything that I knew about Islam came from the media. In the news, I would always hear about terrorist attacks associated with Islamic teachings or about Muslims engaging in terrorism. Because of this, my image about Muslims was unclear. Even though the media portrayed them as terrorists, I had met nice Muslims before and Michelle was very friendly.\n\nAs I got to learn more about Islam, I learned that it was different from what the media portrayed. Michelle taught me that true Muslims did not believe in engaging in violence and murdering people. I learned that the media only created negative images of Muslims and failed to show the true teaching of Islam. While sharing her beliefs, I also learned that there were some similarities between Islam and Christianity like how we both believed in one God. We would spend hours talking about our cultures and surprisingly, we found out that we had many similarities. This made me realize that living together was not going to be a bad idea after all.\n\nIt has been three years since I attended the lecture, and I know that I will never forget this question. I continue to think about it, and realized that there are so many answers to this question and each time I think about it, my answer changes. One particular scenario that I once heard in an Islamic lecture really helped me think about the existence of God. The speaker told us to imagine being alone in a desert, and then spotting a cell phone on the sand. You then ask yourself: could that cellphone somehow randomly appear on its own? Did all the parts somehow magically come together? No, someone had to design the phone, make the chip, etc. The wind did not just bring all the parts together creating this phone; there had to be a creator. Similarly, the human body, system and organs could not have randomly come together to form a human being. Just looking at the details of the human eye and heart alone, I know Allah (SWT) is the only plausible explanation.\n\nI want to share this experience because the question may sound simple, but we sometimes forget to just pause and think about it. The answer is difficult because the response is different for each of us. Having this thought in the back of my mind has helped me become more God conscious and feel closer to my creator. Take a few minutes and try to answer it: How do you know God exists? Feel free to comment so we may all benefit insha’Allah. May Allah (SWT) strengthen our relationship with him.","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002Fea1fd5f0011ac1e300899707d06dd622b7ca967c-2048x1365.jpg","2026-06-12T17:51:00.000Z","non-muslim-roommate","Non-Muslim Roommate?",[43,51,58,64,71,77,84,90,96,102],{"_createdAt":44,"_id":45,"_type":46,"authorImage":47,"authorName":47,"imageUrl":47,"question":47,"quizLength":48,"slug":49,"title":50},"2026-08-21T18:32:56Z","ff6fb8b3-0070-46a3-8927-e4d2e7410587","quiz_",null,10,"can-you-match-these-10-names-of-allah-swt-to-their-meaning","Can You Match These 10 Names of Allah (swt) To Their Meaning?",{"_createdAt":52,"_id":53,"_type":46,"authorImage":47,"authorName":47,"imageUrl":54,"question":47,"quizLength":55,"slug":56,"title":57},"2026-08-19T19:29:57Z","7b633c9a-cfeb-4282-9bbe-bc7154c7d4aa","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002F0514ce1aad09e1a1e8cdcaceb2b4eccbcfa0bf91-1536x884.png",3,"can-you-match-these-3-verses-with-their-meanings","Can you match these 3 Verses with their Meanings?!",{"_createdAt":59,"_id":60,"_type":46,"authorImage":47,"authorName":47,"imageUrl":61,"question":47,"quizLength":55,"slug":62,"title":63},"2026-08-19T19:24:22Z","9974dc8b-2b56-4b44-ad1a-7b4b02decb4f","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002Ff099645d44d1dbd3dec4a13b30297733511bc304-1200x800.png","guess-the-battle-mentioned-in-the-quran","Guess the Battle Mentioned in the Quran!",{"_createdAt":65,"_id":66,"_type":46,"authorImage":47,"authorName":47,"imageUrl":67,"question":47,"quizLength":68,"slug":69,"title":70},"2026-08-17T19:59:39Z","b60f92f7-2242-4e97-a7e2-ea79fb7bb0a2","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002Fa9cac32201789c6cc7140309444be0d2fb08bdaf-1280x1280.png",5,"match-the-key-women-in-islam-with-their-accomplishments","Match The Key Women in Islam With Their Accomplishments",{"_createdAt":72,"_id":73,"_type":46,"authorImage":47,"authorName":47,"imageUrl":74,"question":47,"quizLength":68,"slug":75,"title":76},"2026-08-14T19:18:26Z","ff5c5443-8ed2-4529-8d8f-aa14ba48cf61","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002Fffd123981e630c878a81ed251b2931e39e9519bc-1024x576.png","match-the-prophet-with-the-number-of-times-they-are","Match the Prophet With the Number of Times They Are Mentioned in the Quran",{"_createdAt":78,"_id":79,"_type":46,"authorImage":47,"authorName":47,"imageUrl":80,"question":47,"quizLength":81,"slug":82,"title":83},"2026-08-14T19:03:23Z","0303141b-f89a-43a7-90cf-bc02397db723","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002F8e2f68e71d784d90b0d6da451c332572cfa2fefe-1000x423.webp",4,"match-the-prophets-with-the-correct-holy-book","Match the Prophets with the Correct Holy Book",{"_createdAt":85,"_id":86,"_type":46,"authorImage":47,"authorName":47,"imageUrl":87,"question":47,"quizLength":68,"slug":88,"title":89},"2026-08-14T18:36:28Z","d37178aa-7361-4053-85a8-a20222137f81","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002Ffd080ad80c4cba18d3a40b604e58642e4b74a312-500x500.png","match-the-prophets-with-their-miracles","Match the Prophets with their Miracles",{"_createdAt":91,"_id":92,"_type":46,"authorImage":47,"authorName":47,"imageUrl":93,"question":47,"quizLength":68,"slug":94,"title":95},"2026-08-12T19:23:38Z","89e61f4f-9a8c-4348-bc89-14ab3bb59802","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002F0a4dee6e30e2692d7b3b86ba0f5cbcd46b5e17cf-994x1080.png","tasbih-matching-quiz","Tasbih Matching Quiz!",{"_createdAt":97,"_id":98,"_type":46,"authorImage":47,"authorName":47,"imageUrl":99,"question":47,"quizLength":68,"slug":100,"title":101},"2026-08-12T19:07:24Z","33e795ce-2191-443a-9086-18a57eadf942","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002F224fd71cfaca3ac19e12369dbb803d77676f2453-746x422.png","match-the-surah","Match the Surah",{"_createdAt":103,"_id":104,"_type":46,"authorImage":47,"authorName":47,"imageUrl":105,"question":47,"quizLength":68,"slug":106,"title":107},"2026-08-11T19:16:38Z","c83e4430-1d0f-4b83-9169-ffd44ce4912b","https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.sanity.io\u002Fimages\u002F12ohzz4z\u002Fproduction\u002F1ce2be02a603ac7ccd6e76dcc026f78933c284eb-1536x1152.png","test-your-knowledge-of-holy-sites","Test Your Knowledge of Holy Sites",1790282695524]