Reflections from Madinah: Reconnecting With the Quran

Asalam alalaykum. Welcome to the Baraka Blueprint podcast. My name is Ibrahim Sharif. I'm a project manager, graphic designer, brand strategist. Alhamdulillah, I am a h of the Quran. I believe that Muslims should strive to excellence in every affair in every matter they are in. And I believe I'm far away from this. So this is the reason why I created this particular podcast to be sort of my accountability uh my my diary for the same and to keep it as an experiment for people to observe to learn from and to keep myself as the main and only test subject from this experiment and alhamdulillah I am today in a very pure A holy place, the mosque of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, a place where one prayer equals a thousand, which tells you about the abundance and baraka that this place has. So, it's only fitting for the baraka blueprint to record here. No, but seriously, I actually didn't want to record an episode except I realized there is a big chance that I will miss recording one when I am back home. And because we are consistent and the season is not over yet, I said, you know what, I'm going to have to record one right now. So, I wanted to talk about the well, it's somewhat of a of a of a continuation to the reflections I've had for this year. But also, I don't want to keep this very long either. Let's see how how true this is. I've said it for the last couple of episodes, but they ended up being very long. And my intention for solo episodes is not to be a long recording. So, I've been reflecting over the past year, and I mentioned this in a couple of episodes before. For example, we talked about the danger of the ego in the in the former episode. We talked about the um the importance to of of you know decluttering and uh refocusing your goal with the digital hijra. So with that being said, I wanted to come clean to say that I feel like I've had the wrong goal and f not the wrong goal. I've had the right goal but the wrong execution. Meaning I did promise myself that this was purely going to be a podcast where we focus on the uh that we focus on the lessons we can take from the Quran, the blessed blueprint to implement in our lives to reach u worldly and afterorldly success. And I feel like I didn't do this justice if I'm going to be honest because I ended up, you know, I I've I've been repivoting more like more more so than I ever thought. And even when I was doing this chat GPT wrapped edition, you know when Spotify has a wrapped edition. So I did I did a Chad GPT version and uh one one of the uh one of the roast lines that I got was that uh about how much I've been pivoting my personal brand. I guess this is still a an exploration part for myself. I I don't know what to expect. I don't know what to um uh what the outcome of this is going to be. Uh I am at the same time very very glad and hopeful for what's going to come in. Like for example uh Dubai is going to have the billion followower summit in a couple of weeks not so far away. I think it what is it is it's like 2 3 weeks or something. So from from the moment I'm recording this, I mean uh and I think I'm going to go out with a lot of takeaways. Alhamdulillah. So hopefully when this podcast continues and is back up and running after season finale, you'll see a more, you know, focused uh niched and more organized personal brand. But no promises. Um there's also a reflection subhan Allah because I I also realized this right now while I was in pri previously when I was in Mecca I've realized that I have been very detached from the Quran really I do uh and I'm going to tell you how I came to that realization as well. Uh in the first fra prayer that I prayed the sheh was reciting the verses from um from surah ununice chapter number 10 uh and it was a reminder for me subhan Allah I haven't really taken the relationship with the Quran seriously. I'm saying this because the verses were specifically about the Quran and about uh upholding the recitation of Quran. what I learned from this is that I have been chasing the wrong thing. So yeah, I mean I did try to keep my my revision cycle and everything, but at the same time I I didn't take it as seriously. I didn't have a problem, you know, I didn't I really didn't I didn't have a problem sacrificing uh that to, you know, take another box or to chase the other donia goal or whatever. And this is this is a bad thing. So being in Mecca and Medina, Subhan Allah, has been like a mirror for me. And Medina really is a mirror to its visitor. You realize what you're lacking in. You realize what you um what you need to work on and improve. And then comes the time of action. Subhan Allah. Uh I I I pray that this has been successful and that I have repaired my connection. A sign for that that I see is alhamdulillah I've been I've been looking for some books like Quran specific books books about the Quran and books that are complimentary to any like for example uh Quran is a book that I've been looking for like for 16 years I've been trying to find this book and alhamdulillah when I found this book I I was really happy like I was super happy. I was ecstatic as a matter of fact. Uh this is very important to any havoc because uh it shows you like the places in the Quran that are similar like verses in the Quran that are similar uh that many people you know they confuse and they mix with other parts. Basically it teaches you that so that you don't end up in the same mistake and you don't make the same mistake. so yeah like a reminder that I got subh I want to give you guys this reminder is and I talked I I spontaneously met one of my friends here from Sweden which is also very interesting very very cool and we talked about the importance of you know what actually now that I think about it maybe I should record an episode with Yeah, I should. I really, really should. [laughter] Okay, I need to uh I'm I'm going to message him after this episode. I think he's still here. Um we were talking about the importance of uh reconnecting with the Quran. And even though I did a lot of the talking, I realized that I should be the one listening more because I'm the one with the issue. uh I'm the one who needs to repair that connection. Subhan Allah. So as I give as I give this advice to myself, my dear listener and viewer, whoever and wherever you are, my genuine to you, reconnect with the Quran because you don't want to wait until it is too late because every single person, every person that I know that, you know, had the chance to memorize but didn't or had the chance to read and revise but didn't, ultimately they tell themselves, I wish I did more. And they've said this is I'm saying because they they've said that to me directly elders and whatnot in Sweden and outside of Sweden and Netherlands and wherever I've kept hearing this subhan allah. So I ask Allahh to reconnect us with the Quran and to make us among the people of I guess with that being said uh this is my reflection for today and this is my reflection for this episode. Ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala that it benefits whoever listens to this and ask Allah subhana wa ta'ala to purify our hearts and rectify and repair our connection with him and with his Quran. So thank you for tuning in to the most spontaneous uh the most improvised episode of the Baka Blueprint podcast. If you like what you've seen, make sure to leave this video. Like, turn on the bell notifications if you want to be uh reminded about you. You never know where the next episode is going to is going to be filmed because right now I seem to be filming it wherever, but it did open up the possibility of um of shaping this podcast, I guess. So, thank you so much. take care of yourselves and remember focus on the action that brings you closer to Allah subhana wa t'ala whichever it is as long as it brings you closer to God then you have succeeded do it to baraka style guys remember it's all about baraka style so take care of amlaykumah.