About four years ago (in 2021), I visited Saudi Arabia for Umrah with my mum (I shared that experience here), and I remember being in Madinah, feeling so at peace and thinking, “I wish I could live here.” I didn’t just think it, I prayed for it. I kept going on and on about how much I’d love to live in Madinah or at least in a Muslim country again, that my mum still remembers that conversation to this day.
Allah truly works in the most beautiful and unexpected ways, because somehow, here I am, living in the Prophet’s city. It still blows my mind sometimes when I think about it. SubhanAllah.
I’ve lived in Madinah for about a year now, and one of the things I looked forward to the most was experiencing Ramadan and Eid here. As a child, I was fascinated by the stories my parents told about Ramadan and Eid in Makkah and Madinah. Experiencing it for myself now feels like a full-circle moment.
I wrote somewhere a while back: “I’m always in awe of how Allah answers my prayers, never in the way I want Him to, always better.”Although it usually takes a while (I’m human after all, and I get impatient), when my duas are answered, it’s always in the best of ways. This entire experience, living here, experiencing Ramadan, celebrating two Eids in the city of the Prophet (ﷺ) is a dream I once whispered in sujood.
It’s made me reflect on how sometimes we pray for things and then forget about them… but Allah doesn’t. We might get tired of asking, we might move on, but He never forgets our sincere duas. And when the time is right, He gives us exactly what we need and even more.
To anyone waiting on a dua to be answered: don’t stop.The things you ask for today may show up later when Allah knows you’re truly ready to receive what you prayed for.
Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim readers. May Almighty Allah accept your prayers in ways more beautiful than you ever expected..
Ameen.