Assalamu alaykum all of you, so generous with your thoughts, sincere with your feedback, kind with your support!

It has been two Gregorian years since I started this podcast (and two Hijri years as of the end of Sha’ban). Alhamdu Lillah for the opportunity to have thought-provoking, constructive, enjoyable discussions on the podcast with some wonderful readers and to share them with you all and continue them online.

Thinking about the point I’ve reached now in my reading and learning, I can only say that I feel possibly more ignorant than when I started (an ignorance that sometimes leads to a sneaky ego boost, may Allah protect us from ourselves and the devil)! But that is the blessing-in-disguise of learning, isn’t it? As they say, the more you know the more you realise you don’t know. Perhaps this is a mechanism Allah built into the nature of this world to allow us to stay humble and remember our ultimate fallibility. We will never even approach knowing everything, even if we live for a thousand years. Learning (and by extension reading), then, is an act that requires intentionality like any other. What is our purpose in wanting to learn about the world, about ourselves? Similarly, what is our purpose in reading? With such limited time and mental capacity, what do we want these acts to add to our lives and afterlives?

May Allah guide us all, accept our sincere intentions, forgive our shortcomings and mistakes and bless us with humility and ambition for His sake. May He accept all our fasts and good deeds in this most blessed of months.

I appreciate every thoughtful comment and respectful debate. I hope you will continue to push me in my thinking and tell me when I make mistakes and I hope I can do the same for you, in sha Allah. Thank you all.