Journey to Hidaya | ✔️

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Assalaamu 'Alaikum (Peace be upon you).

Welcome to all. Whether you are Muslim or not, this story is still for you.

I am extremely grateful to you for clicking on this story and deeming it worthy to read. God has brought you here, and He has brought you here for a special reason. As I am working on making this story something that changes your heart, God is guiding me the entire way. I pray He makes it easy for me and allows it to become a source of enlightenment for you. Ameen.

It took me a while to convince myself to post the first chapter. I like to complete my stories before I post them, and I started this one a few months ago. But I realized that I don't know how long that will take, and God help me, but sometimes I tend to have commitment issues. I think publishing a chapter at a time will force me to continue writing, to fulfill the vow I made to myself to write something that will (hopefully) touch your hearts.

I have also waited too long for myself to write the "perfect story". I would constantly read other people's work and notice how I didn't write the way they did. It took me quite some time to realize and happily accept that every writer writes with a different pen—that is, every writer will have something different to say. In different words. In a different style. And I should not hold myself to so many different standards and expect my writing to fall into the same style as the writing of others. For anyone who is struggling with this, I understand completely and I suggest you take a step back and read your work proudly—know that no two minds and no two styles are the same.

I accredit much of my inspiration for this story to Umera Ahmed's Pir-E-Kamil, or The Perfect Mentor. As her book changed my heart, I hope that mine can change yours as well.

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale has also been a driving force behind some of the messages in my book. The Handmaid's Tale delivers a powerful message of how religion is often abused and used as a scapegoat in worldly, political, and personal affairs.

Lastly, Yasmin Mogahed's Reclaim Your Heart has deeply influenced the last third of my story, which deals primarily with healing and mending your heart through your connection with God.

Before I go, here is an important disclaimer: I am no scholar. I am simply woman who loves her religion and loves writing, and wanted to combine my love for the two into something that will (hopefully) leave a lasting impact on you. It is my attempt, as a person of faith, to write a story that is representative of the Muslim community, as well as the general faith-based community. That being said, none of us are perfect, and my characters (and I) will be flawed. Being imperfect is the essence of human nature—the test is how we address and attempt to rectify these flaws.

So once again, thank you for being here. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

All translations and references are provided at the end of each chapter.

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April 25, 2023 Update

This novel is now published and available for purchase in two formats at the following sites: Amazon, KU, Barnes&Noble, Walmart, Bookshop, Books a Million, Book Moon Books, Indigo, & more. You can purchase it through my website kainatazharchughtai.com.

Wa 'Alaikum Salaam

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[Copyright 2024 © Kainat Azhar.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.]

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