Featured Essays
Reaching Allah Through Taraweeh
By Malika Alharash
February, 2026
There are many prayers in Islam. There are two main types: Sunnah and Fard.
Fard includes the five prayers that we must pray every day: Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha.
One of the prayers is Fard for men, but not for women—it is Jumu’ah.
There are Sunnah prayers that you pray after Fard. There are different Sunnah prayers at different events. For example: witr prayer, Duha prayer, tahiyyat al-masjid (greeting the masjid) prayer. Also, Taraweeh is one of the Sunnah prayers as well, and it is special because you only pray it in Ramadan.
Taraweeh stays very late at night after Isha.
There are different ways to pray Taraweeh. You have to pray two rak‘at at a time. You can pray as many rak‘at as you want. Most people pray 8 or 20 rak‘at. People can pray it at home or in the masjid, but most people prefer to pray it in the masjid to get the blessing of the congregation.
It is a happy time because all of the community comes and prays together. It also is a spiritual time because you get to speak with Allah. Duas during Taraweeh are very strong. It is a busy time in the masjid, so you have to be kind and patient. If you get tired during Taraweeh, you can take breaks at any time and come back at any time.
When you go to sujood in Taraweeh, you are the closest to Allah, especially during the holy nights of Laylat al-Qadr.
Taraweeh is a blessed time, and may Allah accept it from all of us.
Looking Out the Window
By Malika Alharash
March 2026
I was looking out the window and all of a sudden an idea came into my mind.
I started thinking who created all this nature, and I started thinking about who could do this and who could create all these people.
And how beautiful and blue is the sky, and how white and fluffy are the clouds, and perfect and green is the grass, and how puffy and pretty are the trees, and how breezy and cool is the wind.
And how different and perfect are humans?
And that is what made me feel strong and made me feel that I had strong faith in Allah, because Allah is the only perfect and best creator.