Ribāṭ Insights
Student of the Month – April
From Journey to Purpose Ribaat’s April Student of the Month, Amina Muse, carries a story shaped by migration, resilience, and a deep commitment to serving
Dhul-Hijja: A Sacred Month Within a Sacred Season
By Anse Kiashe Pugh Allah ﷻ reminds us in the Quran: “Indeed, the number of months with Allah is twelve [lunar] months in the register
A Founding Cohort Moment: Building the Leadership Pipeline for Muslim Women
By Ribāṭ Communications In 2015, during a board meeting, a bold statement was made: InshaAllah, by 2025 we will have a university. That vision is
Student of the Month – March
Ruba Mahfouz-Alkotob was born in Michigan to Syrian immigrant parents and now resides in the suburbs of Flint with her family. She describes herself as deeply blessed—married to a supportive husband and mother to four remarkable children, with her eldest son married and faithfully visiting each weekend.
Student of the Month – February
Sarwat Khan was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, where opportunities to formally study the Quran were limited. Growing up in the American South, she carried a quiet but persistent dream: to one day read and study the Book of Allah with fluency and confidence. Today, Sarwat lives in Dallas, Texas, where she is a devoted stay-at-home mother to six children. Alongside nurturing her family, she also works as a writing coach, helping others refine and elevate their written voice.
Iʿtikaf: Spiritual Seclusion with the Divine
My first experience with iʿtikaf was very different from most people. My grandmother, may Allah have mercy on her, would go into iʿtikaf every year in the last ten nights of Ramadan. She would spend the first part of Ramadan sewing a cloth tent out of a beautiful, simple, delicate, breathable material. Inside, she would put a soft prayer carpet, her masbaha or dhikr beads, and mushaf (Quran). When the last ten nights of Ramadan would arrive, she would enclose herself in the tent, and we wouldn’t see her or hear from her until the day of Eid al-Fitr. When the night of Eid was announced, she would emerge from the tent more beautiful and fragrant than I had ever seen her before, and we would adorn her with necklaces of roses that we had made and give her special sweets, all the while congratulating her. Although I didn’t know what it meant at the time, I knew it was something very special, and something to be celebrated.