Finding Joy in Testing Times
Some Persian inspiration and generative writing prompts
As-salaamu ‘alaykum dear writer,
Jummah Mubarak.
This January, we prepared our themes for the first half of the year, themes we felt would help our members in their writerly life. In March we held a month-long Ramadan writing challenge; in April we delved into Connecting to Your Voice; in May it was Writing Resistance, exploring what makes us resist our writing practice, and how to move towards writing as an act of resistance.
June, the month that heralds summer in the Northern Hemisphere, a joyous time of sunshine, outdoor pursuits and delicious summer fruits, inspired the launch of our June writing challenge, Writing Our Way Into Joy.
But when June came around, the theme we picked felt totally inappropriate.
How can we write our way into joy while we are watching starving Palestinians getting massacred daily while trying to get food? What is joyful about people being abducted by ICE in the US, families being separated, children in agony not knowing what will happen next? How can we be joyful when Iranians are now suffering and fleeing their homes? I (Maceo Nafisah) have lived for the past four years in Portugal and it no longer feels safe to be here, either.
I don’t want to write about all the sad things, about the nightmares, about the ache we are feeling in this world, but that is my first inclination.
We had our Muslim Writers’ Salon Gathering on Friday the 13th of June, the first full day of Israel bombing Iran. I called Medina, my co-founder, asked about her husband’s family in Iran. In between the fears and the “what’s next”, we knew that even if the theme of the month felt off, tapping into joy is exactly what we needed in that moment.
And for me (Medina), Iran is the source of some of the best-loved spiritually elevating poetry known to humankind. Exactly the stuff we need by the gallon.
Coleman Barks interjected his own thoughts into his version of this poem, in which these feeling-guests sweep you out violently for something new. I’m dubious of how respectful that is to Rumi’s work, but the imagery isn’t a million miles off. We’re shaken up, and then shaken some more. We aren’t made of stone; we shudder, and even crumble.
Sometimes what we most fight against is what we most need. It’s hard, though, isn’t it? Accepting that each feeling is a guest: the grief, the rage, the longing…allowing them all to rampage through us in order to leave some sort of calm in their wake. Seeing them, even, as teachers, leading towards a wider perspective, a deeper wisdom.
Joy reminds us of a place to come back to. It’s the defiance of rejecting despair. It isn’t all butterflies and cucumber sandwiches. It’s kind of more like abseiling: you have to do the work to get up to the top of it to be able to enjoy the exhilarating view.
People in Iran right now are a long way from throwing in the towel. On the contrary, for many the present war is reviving their love for their country, their pride in their 3000-year-old culture. We’re hearing of people looking out for their neighbours, their communities, in ways that had been forgotten since the Iran-Iraq war, nearly 40 years ago.
What is joy if not remembrance?
One of our beloved members shared how being in a state of dhikr brings her joy.
“So remember Me; I will remember you…” (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 152)
Although we can not replicate what transpired for us at our latest gathering, Writing Our Way Into Joy, we can share what we worked on with you.
A few writing prompts from our Generative Writing Session:
Instructions:
Set aside 15-30 minutes without distractions for each writing prompt.
First, make a list. Read aloud.
What do you want to expand on? Does this inspire you to write a poem, a letter or a story? If yes, go for it.
1. Write about 5 little things that brought you joy recently, no matter how small.
2. What obstacles prevent you from feeling joyful?
3. What part of your faith and/or practise gives you joy?
Share what you wrote in the comments or in Substack Notes and mention us. We would love to read it, insha’Allah.
Much love and salaams,
Maceo Nafisah + Medina
Love this post and these prompts! I’ve been so resistant to prompts in the past because I couldn’t see their utility, but I realized that exactly was the problem. My framing! And joy is so hard for me to write about, especially for an audience. But I think to become better writers, we need to be able draw from the wellsprings of joy. And like you said, joy is not just cucumber sandwiches… it comes from something deeper. For us as Muslims, it is from the gifts God has bestowed us with
This is just what us many of us need at this moment…so much has been lost, the grief and anger have been so overwhelming that we don’t want to and shouldn’t have to stay with them all the time. Thank for sharing and reminding me that these feelings are guests and that we must welcome and in fact invite other feelings too. We need to it with all of them, the painful ones and the joyous ones. They are indeed all blessings from the Almighty 💚