# Tips for When You're Struggling With Your Faith | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek

**Author:** Dr. Tesneem Alkiek
**Series:** Real Talk Series
**Published:** 2026-01-22
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/APFAqW11hMA
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/tips-for-when-youre-struggling-with-your-faith-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek
**Topics:** Allah, Faith, Family & Community, Marriage

## Description
It’s normal to struggle. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Faith wears out in your hearts just like clothes wear out.” So the question isn’t whether you’ll experience ups and downs—we all will. The real question is: What will you do to renew your faith? In this episode, Dr. Tesneem Alkiek shares how she...

## Chapters
- 0:00 Struggling with Faith and Identity
- 0:56 College: A Turning Point
- 2:43 Questioning and Rediscovering Islam
- 5:23 Embracing Imperfection in Faith
- 14:24 Inspiration and Life Advice
- 14:39 Striving in Faith
- 15:55 Embracing Individual Strengths
- 20:21 The Value of Community

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Sometimes I feel so distant from my faith and I think, what's the point? Is there something

**[0:20]** wrong with me? I think we get stuck in this black and white mentality that if I'm not the perfect Muslim all the time, what's the point in trying? And I really think we need to talk about that. Being a super Muslim is impossible because

**[0:46]** why does it feel like I'm not good enough when it comes to salah, when it comes to hijab? And I think about, is it okay to go through these steps and to question my faith? When I started college in the US, and it's important to note that college in the US is

**[1:04]** not just education, it's like this whole experience, right? Where you go to sort of change your life, right? It's this moment, it's supposed to be this pivotal moment where you start to understand the world, you see the world differently, you can make better life decisions.

**[1:20]** It's like that turning point in your life, right? So I'm there, I'm in college, and I buy it all in. I soak it all in. And I remember thinking to myself, this is incredible, right? The ways of thinking, the ideas that you're taught in undergrad are, you're learning about

**[1:40]** Orientalism, right? You're learning about decolonialism, you're learning about feminism, you're learning about all these things that for the first time you feel like you're seeing the world for what it truly is. Sounds fancy. It sounds fancy. And it's supposed to be this almost spiritual experience, because you're like, wow. I'll never forget the time I learned some of these theories, and I was just like,

**[2:00]** the world has come so far. We, finally, after years and years of imperialism and colonialism and all of this destruction that we've brought on this earth, I feel like we're finally making progress. Like, we're finally understanding our faults, our flaws.

**[2:20]** Like as humanity. As humanity. And it's like, now we're, of course, correcting, right? We're going to be, you know, we're going to give everyone their due rights and make sure that we understand privilege and these conversations are important, right? And this is not to like sort of neglect from the significance or the value of some of these ways of thinking. Because I couldn't

**[2:39]** help but think to myself, what does Islam, like how does Islam solve the world's problems? Because Islam that I was taught was one of like, not taught, but I guess understood, probably, was one of like complacency, of political quietism.

**[2:56]** What's political quietism? Political quietism is this idea that in the face of like dictatorial authority, dictatorships, right? Muslims, like you just, you sort of, you take the oppression for what it is. This is sort of your normal routine. You don't challenge these ideas. But now you're at university and you are learning all of these new shiny things.

**[3:15]** And it's quite the opposite, right? It's like, you know, you resist authority. There's, you know, you have this idea of decoloniality that in places of the world that have been colonized, you resist that type of authority. So it's like this really was like a whole new way of seeing the world. And I remember thinking to myself, like, man, Islam, like,

**[3:32]** okay, it's nice. It makes me feel good sometimes. But like, what does it have to offer to the world? Because that was the understanding, the limited understanding of Islam that I had. There was still so much more for me to learn. But I share this because those felt like very low moments of faith. And it took time. It

**[3:54]** took time for sort of everything I learned at college to lose its shine. Like everything feels so exciting and shiny in college. And then you leave and, you know, time goes on and you start to realize like the limitations of a lot of these ways of thinking. And then I think for, I guess, most of us, it was Gaza, right? Then things just become so obvious

**[4:13]** for what they really are. Wait, wait, wait. I need to get clarity. So we must just settle for Islam like, oh, it is what it is. I'm pursuing Islamic scholarship. Like this is like my life, right? I have ups and downs, right? I have ups and downs. Anyone else, it's like we need to acknowledge sort of the

**[4:31]** normalcy of having those ups and downs. By the way, the Prophet (ﷺ) did, right? And we'll get to that. And for me, like, let's say you're going through a dip, right? And it's during your lowest point because you know what got me out of it was this sort of really deep reflection of like, okay, fine. Like if I'm settling for Islam, like let's

**[4:52]** entertain. Like what else is out there that's comprehensive enough for me? What else is out there that offers what Islam offers? I couldn't find anything. I couldn't, I couldn't figure anything out. So I was like, you know what? Even at my lowest point, that got me through my lowest point knowing there's nothing else out there. There's nothing else even,

**[5:10]** you know, close to being satisfactory. Everything else as I had experienced lost its shine or didn't make sense or wasn't holistic enough for me. And so sometimes you might be at such a low point in your life, it feels like you're settling and then you feel guilty about it. What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that you don't have to feel guilty about that because

**[5:29]** what happens is that say you're like, I settled, settled for Islam, right? What that looked like in my real life was like, I feel like there's still something out there, but I'm just not really convinced. And like, there's more out there that I'm looking for. Right? So Islam was still part of my life. Always has always been part of my life. But it was

**[5:47]** like this kind of like, ah, like I'm going through something now. Right? And then in the process of keeping on to Islam, I start to think what value does Islam have in my life? And then I thought like all the incredible things that Islam offers. I think about all

**[6:05]** the incredible things about like what it means to be a Muslim, like what it means to have to like have a relationship with the divine word of God, what it means to know the Prophet (ﷺ) of God and who he was like. And in the process of being like low, like I climbed from there because then I was like, wait, wait, wait, let's think about all the incredible things

**[6:23]** about Islam. Like I flipped the conversation and now suddenly what was settling became a deep, like personal value, like of this religion and of the potential of like what it has to offer. So is questioning faith the problem? Questioning your faith is not the

**[6:40]** problem. It's how you go about it. Right? So that's a human experience. It's a human experience. And the Prophet (ﷺ) of Islam validated this. He says, faith is like a garment. Right? Faith is like your clothes. It's just like your clothes are going to wear, just like your clothes pill and fray and look torn and you got to wash it, get new clothes, whatever

**[6:59]** the case is. Like the idea that faith is like a garment is this emphasis that it needs to be renewed. Right? And that's what the Prophet (ﷺ) said, renew your faith because there's again, this is what I said, I'm saying like, it's going to go up and it's going to go down. You need though, to put that effort to make sure it goes back up. You need to have that

**[7:18]** moment of reflection to sit back and think to yourself, like, what am I doing here? What does Islam have to offer? And you'll find it, you'll make du'a and you'll find your place. But like that moment, don't feel guilty about it, I guess. But then how do you navigate going forward? So I think recognizing the reality of a faith dip is very important. Right? Because I think

**[7:38]** of the story of Hanzalah (رضي الله عنه), the companion Hanzalah, he's going around, he's just not, he's not having it. Something's wrong with me. Something's wrong with me. Runs into Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه), and he says, Abu Bakr asks him, like, what's going on? He's like, I'm a hypocrite. Hanzalah responds, like, I'm a hypocrite. Why are you a hypocrite? Like, what did you do? And Abu

**[7:56]** Bakr (رضي الله عنه), and Hanzalah responds saying, no, when I'm with the Prophet (ﷺ) of God, like life's great. I feel like the religion feels so incredibly like real to me. He's talking, it's like I can see Jahannam in front of me. I can see Jannah in front of me. Like things

**[8:13]** are as real as they can get. My iman is as high as it can get. Can I leave the presence of the Prophet (ﷺ) and sit down? And you go back to work and you go back to your family. And then he's like, in those moments, like, I, you know, I feel this deep sense of guilt

**[8:29]** because I'm back to being like my regular self. I've lost that sense. And Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه) is like, huh, you made a good point. I'm a hypocrite too in that case. Right? We're all hypocrites. You and I. Right. And Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه) is like, hey, let's go to the Prophet (ﷺ). Let's go figure

**[8:47]** this out. They go to the Prophet (ﷺ), explain what they're feeling. The Prophet's (ﷺ) response is so incredible. He says, if you were in that state, if you were super Muslim all the time, right? You, like the angels would come to your beds when you're walking and they would come and shake your hands. Like welcome to the club. You're not

**[9:06]** human anymore. Right. That's like, that's what it means to always be in like this, this full like mode of being on. Right. That's not human. Right. That's not human of you. It's totally normal to have those ups and downs. Right. And so I get, it's like, it's

**[9:24]** this idea that we all have, like we have that path to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There's going to be some roadblocks there, but the idea is that it's normal to encounter those roadblocks. It's normal to encounter those roadblocks. But then when you, when you, when you have that struggle, at least when I have that struggle, I mean, what's the point? Like

**[9:41]** what's the point of all this? The point is, is that you don't discount the good that you're able to do. Right. I think we fall into this sort of like all or nothing mindset. It's like, well, if I can't do everything, like even like think about your obligations, right? Think about prayer. If you can't pray all five times a day, then what's the point of

**[10:01]** praying even one, right? That's sort of like the attitude that a lot of times we sort of get stuck in, the cycle that we get stuck in. And it's important to remember, like, don't discount the good. Push yourself. You need to push yourself. You want to work on becoming a better person. But in the process, don't discount the good. Right. I think of the Prophet (ﷺ),

**[10:18]** the story of the Prophet (ﷺ). Someone comes up to him and says like, oh, this guy, like he's praying all night, but the second the morning hits, he's, the man is stealing. You think that, I love this game. What would you think, based on how we're taught, what would you think the Prophet (ﷺ) would have responded with? You might as well not pray. You might as well

**[10:34]** not pray, buddy. Like, of course, the Prophet (ﷺ) doesn't say that, right? The Prophet (ﷺ) responds that, well, eventually his prayer will restrain him. The idea that like we're all on this journey, right? Like that's the buzzword today. We're all on this journey. And you might be

**[10:52]** struggling with something, right? But what you're, but that good that you're doing despite your struggles, that that will come back if you persist and you have good intentions. That will come back and be a barrier between you and whatever is harming you, right? It's

**[11:10]** crazy that you say that because, you know, when you do something good, it does practically stop you from doing the bad that you're doing. And I think about my journey with hijab. I felt like in the early days of when I wore hijab, I was not doing it for modesty. I wasn't

**[11:27]** even probably doing it for the pleasure of Allah. I think what hijab represented in my life was that it was the inhibitor for me to do bad things. It was like the thing that stopped me from like going to places I shouldn't be going, speaking to people I shouldn't be speaking. And just by virtue of wearing the hijab, I wouldn't do bad things. Time has

**[11:48]** passed, but I always think about that moment of like, what my life would have been had I just said, oh, unless I fix my life, unless I pray on time, unless I become the perfect Muslim, then only I'm going to wear the hijab. I would be a wreck. Yeah, unfortunately, I think that's a lot of us, we get stuck in that cycle. It's like, well, what's the

**[12:06]** point of doing that? What's the point of wearing hijab until I'm like the perfect Muslim, right? Until I get my prayers straight, why would I put on hijab, right? So this goes for everything in our lives, right? It goes for everything. Like why bother doing it when I'm not doing everything else that I need to be doing?

**[12:21]** And it's waiting for that perfect moment, like one day, everything's going to be aligned. Yeah. And then that's the day I'm going to do everything that's good. And that day's never going to come. Like there's no expectation that one day you're going to be the perfect Muslim. Like that's what defines us as human beings is the constant need to repent to Allah

**[12:40]** subhanahu wa ta'ala because we're always going to fall in some type of sin, right? And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Qur'an, إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ that your good deeds will ward off the bad ones. So do good, do good however you can. And that is a means, like that becomes a shield, like a protectant against falling into further sin.

**[12:58]** So it's really about like not discounting the good that you can do. It's like a paradigm shift, I think, because all I could see at the time was that like, I'm such a bad Muslim, should I even be wearing this hijab? Yeah. Like, but when you focus it to say, okay, keep doing that and one day eventually,

**[13:20]** you'll stop doing the wrong thing. Yeah, absolutely. So Tasneem, should the goal then be that we have to be strong in every aspect of faith? Is that the ultimate that we're striving for? You know, it's funny, like I think that's the impression that we all have that one day we're all going to be like turning into super Muslims, right? And it reminds me of the story is...

**[13:38]** Are we not? No. Well, it depends on how we define that. So let's talk about it. Because like what I think about, I think of... So Shaykh Ahmed is a beloved teacher of mine. We were here in Istanbul years, summers ago, many years ago.

**[13:54]** And he sat me down, he said, Tasneem, like, let's talk about what you want to do, right? And he said to me, he's like, what do you want to be a scholar in? I was like, well, I want to be an Islamic scholar. He's like, what does that even mean? He's like, you know what I noticed about you Americans? He's like, you all attempt to be like the Muslim.

**[14:11]** Scholars, not all of course, but many of you attempt to be like the jack of all trades. You want to be like the ultimate Muslim scholar, you know, the Muslim scholar in hadith, in fiqh, usul, everything. What happens when you're a jack of all trades, master of none, right? Yeah. And so he's like, don't do that.

**[14:27]** That was his advice to me. He's like, don't do that. He's like, pick one discipline and be really, really good at it. And I, and I really... That's advice for life. That's advice for life. I was like, you know, like I was, I walked away so inspired, right? But then I think about like how Allah also talks to us about this stuff, right?

**[14:42]** Like there's one verse in the Qur'an, Allah says, those who strive, because you better believe this life is filled with striving. Every single one of you, when you put in that effort, that effort's important, right? It's not, you're magically going to one day sort of transform.

**[14:58]** They strive in our cause. Like they strive, they put in that effort and energy to do good, to be good. We will guide them to our paths, right? True. Plural, right? And what this represents is the idea that to get to Allah,

**[15:14]** He's offered multiple ways, multiple opportunities to get to Him. So there's, it's not one size fits all. It's not a one size fits all, right? And I think like, even you think about the architecture of Jannah itself, right? You think about how Jannah, you've got the gate of Rayyan, right?

**[15:31]** A gate that you will enter for those who really committed to fasting, who completed their fasting, who went out of their way for it. There's the gate of the one who donated a lot, the one who did jihad in the path of Allah, the one who prayed a lot. Like there's a gate, a special gate just for you when you really excel at what you do.

**[15:50]** So there's different ways to get to where we're ultimately striving to be. Exactly. And I think of the example of the companions, right? Like think about the companions who are the perfect generation to exist, right? We know that from a hadith of the Prophet (ﷺ), that the first generations are the greatest generations to exist.

**[16:09]** Like these companions who are our role models, they stood out for specific characteristics. Think about scholarship, Aisha (رضي الله عنها), Ibn Abbas (رضي الله عنه), right? These companions were known specifically for their scholarship. They spent their time doing that.

**[16:25]** They focused on it. They were really good at it. Okay. Donations, Abdurrahman bin Auf (رضي الله عنه) and Zainab bint Khuzaymah (رضي الله عنها), right? Individuals known for constantly giving. Fighting, you have Khalid bin Waleed (رضي الله عنه), you've got Nusaybah bint Ka'b (رضي الله عنها), you have like these individuals really known and good at what they do, right?

**[16:44]** And it's like, wait, that's the attitude. Like these are people that are the best of the generation. These are the people we want to aspire to. And they represent this idea that you pursue excellence in what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has facilitated for you, right?

**[16:59]** And they were not clones of each other, though. Yeah, exactly. They weren't clones, right? And that's what you would expect. Like they would all be super Muslims all the time. Yeah. So I guess it's important for us to find what you're good at. Find what you're good at and be really, really good at it. Like someone comes up to Ibn Mas'ud (رضي الله عنه), Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud is known for his relationship with the Qur'an,

**[17:16]** his deep, deep relationship with the Qur'an. And someone tells him like, you know, you should probably do things other than just reading Qur'an all day. Like you gotta, you know, change it up a bit. And Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud (رضي الله عنه) responds like, well, and they specifically said, like, why don't you fast? You're not fasting enough, right?

**[17:32]** Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud says, well, you know, when I fast, like outside of Ramadan, so it's optional fasting. When I fast, it weakens my ability to recite Qur'an. And reciting Qur'an is more beloved to me. As someone who really struggles with fasting.

**[17:47]** You struggle with fasting? You know, OK, so you know how it is, right? I struggle with fasting. And it's so funny because like I love reading Qur'an. And every time I fast, I'm like, I get so thirsty. Then I feel like I don't want to read the Qur'an. And then I kind of feel like, uh, like I'm a zombie. I feel like a miserable person.

**[18:03]** And I might snap at people just because I'm fasting. Yeah, right. And then like for the longest time, I struggled. I struggled with the idea that why don't I enjoy fasting? We have to do it. So we might as well be great at it. And if you're great at it, you'll enjoy it. Yeah, yeah. And to me, it was like this idea that like there's something wrong with me

**[18:20]** because if God tells me to fast, I should love doing what God tells me to. Why am I not enjoying fasting? Yeah. Right. That was my attitude. I felt like there was something wrong with me as a result. And that's not the case. Right. And then I came across this quote from Abdul Qadir Jilani. And I was like, that was so validating.

**[18:36]** Like, wait, I don't have to actually enjoy optional fasting, right? Like I can prioritize the ibadah that I enjoy. And that's the thing about fasting is that it's really not easy for me. But then when I think about other things like spending time with children,

**[18:53]** I love doing that. And some of my friends are like, you're crazy. But we all bear out other things. Yeah, exactly. And I think it's important to clarify that we're talking about things that are optional. Right. We're not talking about choose one fard over the other,

**[19:09]** one obligation over the other. Those are always required. Right. We're talking about when we push ourselves to even go further and beyond. I think of Imam Malik, he's a massive scholar in the Islamic tradition. And sort of he got the same question.

**[19:24]** Like, you know, Imam, like you're spending so much time spreading knowledge, giving talks, like studying. What about like other things? Like, shouldn't you be doing more fasting and more this and that and prayer? And he says, listen,

**[19:40]** the way you come closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that strength that you have, that's been divided amongst us like rizq, right? What you're good at in ibadah is like rizq. In the sense that, and then he continues, he says,

**[19:56]** Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has facilitated for me scholarship, right? He's made it easy and beloved to me. And I'm going to take advantage of it. And I hope that my actions are going to be just like yours. And when you're engaging in other acts of worship for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but are not scholarship, like we're on the same playing field.

**[20:13]** Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made some things easier for me and some things easier for you. And we need to take advantage of what we're given and really be good at it. So what about the parts of faith that don't come easy to me? What about, how do I think about it? So I think it's important, number one,

**[20:30]** and I think I've emphasized this a lot, but it requires all the emphasis possible. We can't become complacent, right? It's the idea is not like, well, I'm not good at anything. Therefore, I'm not going to try. That's not what we're going at this. Things are going to be hard. Like you can be really good at everything.

**[20:47]** I can be really good at, but fasting is going to continue to be a struggle for me. And what I do to sort of reframe my way of thinking is that out of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's generosity, He rewards us even when it's difficult. In fact, He rewards us even more when it's difficult.

**[21:05]** And I think of the hadith where the Prophet (ﷺ) says, not even a thorn that pricks you as a Muslim, right? As a believer, not even a thorn that pricks you, except that you are like either a sin's removed or you are like granted a reward, like you're raised in rank.

**[21:22]** I think to myself, like, how incredible is that? Because if I stub my toe, God rewards me for that. God forgives my sin for that. Like imagine, like imagine you putting effort into fasting. And I know like my husband's got it easy. He fasts, he acts like it's just a regular day.

**[21:37]** I'm like, what's wrong with you? One of those? One of those, right? And I'm fasting like seven hours and 59 minutes, seven hours, 58 minutes, like that's me. And I'm thinking to myself, like, I get more reward because it's more difficult for me, right? And I think that's incredible. Like I think about even Qur'an, right?

**[21:56]** Al-mahiru bil-Qur'an, like the one who's really good at Qur'an, excellent, right? There's a hadith of the Prophet (ﷺ), wal-ladhi yaqra'uhu wa huwa 'alayhi shaqq, the one who literally is like, cannot, like is like letter for this, like, struggling to read it.

**[22:12]** You're getting double the reward. What? Like think about what that tells you. It's just like, Allah's saying, I see you, I hear you, I know you're going through that struggle. I know everything's not easy, right? This is the world after all. The world is supposed to require that effort. But despite the fact that Allah has no reason

**[22:29]** to give us more reward for it, I see that you're struggling, I acknowledge it and I validate it. And you know what? You get double the reward for it. It's hard, but do it anyways. It's hard, but do it anyways. You can push through it. And it's like this motivation Allah is giving us, like do it and I'll give you more at the end.

**[22:46]** I recognize that, right? And I think like part of this conversation is about, it's like, sometimes we want to worship God on our own terms, right? Like I want to worship God the way I want to worship Him. Right? And I think part of this conversation is like,

**[23:02]** well, it's not always about how you want to go about things. There's like an element to like recognizing that whatever God has asked of us is good for us. Right? You say it's not about you, girl. It's not always about you, right? That can be the caption for the episode.

**[23:18]** It's not always about you. Like I think about the ayah in the Qur'an, wa minan nasi. There's among the people, ya'budullah 'ala harf. They worship God at an edge. The second things don't go the way they want it to go, out, peace out, right? I'm done with this. Right? And the second things go,

**[23:34]** and if things go their way, but exactly as they expected, things are easy, things are wonderful. Sure, I'll worship you God, right? I'm going to worship you. Like it's this idea. I'm going to worship you on my terms. And Allah criticizes people like, that's not how it works.

**[23:49]** Think about it for a second here. I can cite you study after study after study of like things that Allah requires us to do. And now secular studies have come out and said like, by the way, that's actually really, really good for you in this world. Right?

**[24:04]** There was just a couple of months ago, there was like a, not a meme, but like a short video from Instagram, like circulating. And it's like this Harvard research that shows that people who donate money, who are generous, who are charitable,

**[24:20]** they are statistically higher. Like there's this, you are statistically set up to be wealthier in this world. Why? Because when you donate, it creates, it actually changes how you approach your business,

**[24:36]** your life, everything around you, your relationships. It reflects like this mentality that you have, that you're willing to take the risk, that you're willing to, like you're thinking about like this sort of like the community and that shifted mindset positions you where you're better at your job or you're more likely to make better decisions,

**[24:54]** all of this kind of stuff. So essentially it was a correlation. Those who give more are actually richer in this world. And I remember laughing so hard thinking to myself like, this is exactly what God tells us, right? Like give and I'll give you more. But like if you think,

**[25:11]** for someone who struggles with charity, someone who struggles with giving money and you know nothing except the fact that God tells you to do that, sometimes it's like, man, God, I don't want to give. It's hard for me, right? Yeah, or maybe like not today. Not today, whatever the case is. Like I really, like some people really struggle

**[25:28]** with the idea of having to let go of their wealth, right? And I think to myself like, if that's what you're struggling with, right? And you can put in any example here, if that's what you're struggling with, it's like, it's incredible because worship God on his terms and he says, and he gives you more in this world

**[25:43]** because of it. He rewards you not just in the hereafter because you're putting in doubly effort, but he's going to reward you in this world as well, right? So my point is, is that even when it's hard, even when you feel like I don't want to do this, this is not what brings me closer to God. Everything that God has commanded you

**[25:59]** is good for you in both worlds, right? We might not see it, we might not understand it, but it's going to be good for you. But I guess we have to have that trust that it's going to be good anyways. Absolutely, I think that's exactly what it is. It makes me think of the hadith of the Prophet (ﷺ), he says,

**[26:14]** there is nothing that you leave for the sake of God, except that he gives you something even better than that. Right? And make this practical, like there have been so many opportunities that I wanted to pursue, really badly pursue. I thought to myself, I'm not going there,

**[26:30]** I'm not doing that, I'm not taking that job, I'm not taking that fellowship, I'm going to make this sacrifice for God, whatever, if it was for my family or for someone else. And have that trust that whatever I do, whatever I give up, God is going to give me something greater than that.

**[26:46]** Do you have any practical advice of how to do that every day? I think one of the most important things we can take away, or we can actually practically do when we're sort of struggling, or we need that motivation, whatever the case is, is the advice of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Qur'an.

**[27:03]** He says, وَاصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ بِالْغَدَاةِ وَالْعَشِيِّ Be patient with people who have the same goal as you, who are calling to their Lord all the time, right? Be patient with those who have the same vision, I want to please God, I'm here,

**[27:19]** I want to be Muslim, I want to be really good at what I'm doing. Find that sense of community, find that group of people, find that motivation through that really relying on others. And I think it's fascinating because in Islam, like, think about it.

**[27:36]** Pray by yourself, you get reward. You pray with others, you get even more. You say the Shahadah in front of other people. You give Zakat to who? Other people. You do Hajj with other people. Like, the ibadah is literally like the communal religion. And it doesn't stop at these obligations.

**[27:53]** And in fact, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is commanding us, like, no, no, no, find other people who have your attitude. Find people who have me as your goal and do it together. I think that's really the beauty of Islam. You're not in it alone. I love that, you're not in it alone.

**[28:09]** So just like Tasneem and I struggle with fasting, what's something you struggle with? Let us know and tag a friend who you can overcome this with.

## Other Episodes in "Real Talk Series"
- [Build Your Relationship With the Qur’an Before Ramadan | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/build-your-relationship-with-the-quran-before-ramadan-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [When You Feel Conflicted About a Hadith | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/when-you-feel-conflicted-about-a-hadith-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [Are We Becoming Too Self-Centered? | Real Talk ft. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/are-we-becoming-too-self-centered-real-talk-ft-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [The Healthy Way to Think About Feminism | Real Talk ft. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/the-healthy-way-to-think-about-feminism-real-talk-ft-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [Spiritual Burnout is Real | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/spiritual-burnout-is-real-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [The Social Media Spiral | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/the-social-media-spiral-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [The Problem With Hustle Culture | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/the-problem-with-hustle-culture-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [What if it's Not a Gender War? | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/what-if-its-not-a-gender-war-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [Why is Marriage So Complicated? | SERIES PREMIERE | Real Talk ft. Dr. Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/why-is-marriage-so-complicated-series-premiere-real-talk-ft-dr-tesneem-alkiek.md)
- [LET’S CHAT | First impressions, Hijab, Highschool Awkwardness | New Series with Dr Tesneem Alkiek](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/lets-chat-first-impressions-hijab-highschool-awkwardness.md)
- [Trailer | Real Talk with Dr. Tesneem Alkiek and Qaanitah Hunter](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/real-talk-series/trailer-real-talk-with-dr-tesneem-alkiek-and-qaanitah-hunter.md)