Reclaim Your Heart by Yasmin Mogahed 5/5

 

I’m very excited to share today's post with you all, my first book review here on my blog as mentioned in Future Posts IdeasI wanted to bring attention to my most recent favorite book, Reclaim Your Heart by Yasmin Mogahed. Like I mentioned in my Barnes and Noble Book Haul (4), I ordered from B&N mostly for Yasmin's book. I recently started to hear her videos on YouTube and I liked a lot of what she said. Then I found out on her website that she came out with her first book this past August. While on YouTube, I came across a video about Yasmin's book and shortly after that, a book trailer for Reclaim Your Heart. I'm always on the hunt for good "non-traditional" books and with all the constant attention on this specific book, I decided to get a copy for myself. Bottom line, I'm really glad I did!

Normally, I wouldn't mention the texture of a book, but this one is different. Reclaim Your Heart feels soft like velvet/felt, not the typical papery feeling. What's the big deal about the texture? Well, being someone who tries to cover my new books with clear contact paper, before I got the chance to cover this book, water dripped onto the cover. Books usually get "wrinkly/ bumpy" when they get wet, but the material to this book prevented that from happening to my delight. Fortunately, I was able to cover (Decora Clear Contact Paper 3 Yd.)my book before any real damage could be done to the covers and spine. To me, the book deserves at least 1 star for the cover material alone! 

Now about the content. Many of the articles/stories in Reclaim Your Heart were extremely well written. Overall, this book has great reminders for everyone and covers topics that will help individuals. While I was reading Yasmin's book, I thought of family members, friends, acquaintances, etc. that I thought this book would be helpful to. Thus, I came to the conclusion that this book would make a good gift to others as well, even non-Muslims! I truly believe there is something for everyone in Reclaim Your Heart. Through Yasmin's writing, readers can tell that she reflects on everyday experiences such as news, interactions, etc. to learn from them and share that knowledge, which we can all use.

The book is broken into seven chapters which includes: Attachments, Love, Hardships, Relationship with the Creator, Women's Status, Ummah, and Poetry. Within these seven chapters are 38 articles plus poems. I personally had a number of favorites from this book. Two little excepts includes "This world cannot break you- unless you give it permission. And it cannot own you unless you hand it the keys- unless you give it your heart..." (Mogahed, 43) and "No matter what a man does he will never be able to have the status of a mother" (Mogahed, 127). I liked many articles entirely, and after some looking around, I found out that some of Yasmin's book material are also found on her site. I don't think this is bad because I never read anything from her site before reading her book. Plus, I will be able to link some of my favorite writings for you all ;) So, to get a taste of some of what to expect from Yasmin's book, here are some of my favorites in no particular order.

A Successful Marriage: The Missing Link
Seeing Your Home in Jennah: On Seeking Divine Help
The Dream of Life
Salah: Life's Forgotten Purpose
A Sacred Conversation
Facebook: The Hidden Danger
Empowerment of Women
Today’s Opening of the Red Sea: Lessons from Egypt

Overall, I think this is a great book for ones personal library and to give as a gift to others. There is much to be gained from Yasmin's Reclaim Your Heart. If you would like to purchase Reclaim Your Heart, then check out
Reclaim Your Heart
Barnes and Noble
Yasmin Mogahed's site