Dear Believer,

One of my mentors told me to grow privately. Ibn Ata’illah said “Bury yourself in the earth of obscurity, for what grows from the unburied yields no harvest.”

Truth isn’t?

Except everything around us calls us to do the opposite, and somehow we are supposed to stand strong against a tornado attempting to unbalance us.

Even the most firmly planted will be uprooted during a severe storm. This is the reality of the society that we’ve created and supported around us.

A society of, “Only God can judge me.”

A society of, “You have absolutely nothing to add to the conversation but nonetheless, you must speak.”

A society of, “You’re not actually spiritually stable but nonetheless you must be the guide for the people.”

Yah, and what happens when your actions affect the masses?

What happens when you were never buried deep enough to take root and truly be of benefit?

What happens when you are lifted so high, when YOU placed yourself upon a pedestal and your haste, your mistakes lead to your demise?

There is so much wrong around us and not enough solutions. Not enough paths for recourse, not enough patience coupled with wisdom.

Most of all…

There isn’t enough consciousness that every action we take is monitored by God. That every misstep, every sin, every glance that turns into a stare, that turns into a DM, that turns into a request or more is jotted down by angels that some of us say we believe in, but our hearts don’t understand the metaphysical reality of what that means.

That golden compass that once pointed us towards God has gone askew because of the magnetic pull of sin and ignorance that has not only become prevalent, but widely accepted and, I daresay, championed.

I’ll never forget the fateful evening sitting with my friend as we discussed influencers, Islam, and social media. We saw the harm, but we also saw the capacity for much benefit. The capacity to affect and enlighten many, but it comes with a cost.

It’s easy to forget God.

May God never cause us to forget Him so that we never forget ourselves.

Sha’ban 2nd, 1440
April 8th, 2019

Your brother,
Arthur K. Richards