Last Ramzan, I spent three days practically glued to my phone waiting for minute-by-minute updates for my best friend Sumika’s (non-human) baby, the ‘Light The Soul Retreat’ by Afterglow. Muneeza (also BFF and part of the legendary girls trip we take every year), generously sent me videos, pictures, random anecdotes, starting from the night these guys started setting up the hall where the retreat was scheduled to be, till the thank you speeches on the last day. It was an amazing, amazing initiative, buzzing with energy, bursting with imagination.

Some of you might remember Afterglow from all the times I posted about it; the incredible workshop-of-sorts that Sumika pulled together in Ramzan as part of her new venture Afterglow. A year or so ago, she’d had a small dream of organizing a get-together of like-minded individuals, no matter where they were on their religious/spiritual journeys, and just hang out as a group and talk about Islam. A judgment-free zone, with space for everyone. It was a tiny, baby vision that she singlehandedly drove to execution and before we knew it, it had gone from paper to full-blown reality, breaking ground in her hometown Karachi.

I could not wait to talk to you guys about what a fantastic initiative this turned out to be and you can bet I’m going to do a microscopic recap today. I always had belief in her vision and trusted it blindly but even I could not have been prepared for the phenomenal 3 days she managed to create out of nothing at all. I couldn’t be part of that workshop this time but the kind of feedback she shared from the participants and the messages that I personally got directly from people who had registered after hearing about the workshop from me, was INSANE. We all need to register for the next one and we all need to harass Sumika to make it happen in our own respective cities (Sumika, please note down Sydney, thanks).

So let’s cut out the gushing and do a photo tour with my very valuable commentary on the side? Aa jao.

The casual, chilled-out, let’s-hang-out-for-three-days-over-some-kickass-discussions type seating area. No classroom tables, no stuffy atmosphere. Easy, afternoon chai kinda hangout place. (She did have some couches on the side for anyone who couldn’t sit on the floor for whatever reason).

The amazing corners she set up with the help of the team at Self Sorted. Since it was Ramzan and the schedule was tightly packed, a brilliant idea that Sumika added to the whole mix was these ‘break corners’ where people had free time in between sessions to do as they pleased. A ‘Reading’ corner for catching up on your Quran reading or any duas; Self Sorted guys set up these full corners with little touches like that cute little book corner (see the white crates?) with siparas and dua books.

The ‘Listening’ corner had some audio gear and suggestion cards for surahs or audio lectures you could listen to. I loved the attention to detail, the cards actually had links to lectures you could download, down to things like page number details. So cool.

Then the meditation corner where you could just sit and do absolutely nothing, nap, relax. And the fourth and last corner on the other side was a ‘Relaxation’ corner with couches where you could get a foot massage (!); such a brilliant idea to add that small bit of self-care and rest in between a jampacked day of heavy, meaningful sessions. I loved how the team at Self Sorted merged Sumika’s theme with the décor of these sections, it all fit so well.

The welcome area for the participants: with a quran for each person, a journal to capture your thoughts/inspiration/ideas throughout the retreat and a program schedule (because we all like to know where things are going). Fireball Direct (an event planning agency both Sumika and I have known for very long) did the décor of the space with overall management of the event.

The beyond cute Tarawih totes by Dotte. I mean, like I said, the attention to detail while sticking to the basics and not splurging on silly things was incredible. The cute name badges made by Ghazal Pirzada.

And these simple and thoughtful boxes designed by Dotte for all the participants. Dotte was kind enough to sponsor all of these on their own and had tiny things like tasbeehs, small booklets of azkaar, etc. Also included some generous discount vouchers from Chhab (they do amazing abayas! and had also made a monetary donation to the retreat).

Just check out the relaxed vibe of this. All three days kicked off with 30-min meditation/yoga sessions (which weren’t photographed) but what an amazing way to get started on a journey of the mind and soul.

One of the speaker sessions. All of these sessions were so interactive. No one-way teaching style, all discussion oriented. The content of the sessions though is the most impressive part. It wasn’t about teaching technicalities of religion but more about how simple Islam is and incorporating it into your everyday lifestyle. Tips and tricks to make it a part of your life that you appreciate and seamlessly integrate instead of struggling to do things out of an obligation and not an attachment.

There were about 4-5 speakers in total and they talked about things ranging from Islam as a way of life, everyday namazain and tips to enjoy your prayers, responsibilities and rights towards your loved ones according to Islam, self-care in Islam, ways to be a productive Muslim and taking your religion hand-in-hand with your worldly life and responsibilities. I mean, the breadth of these topics really blew my mind away and I have to say that we really don’t have a community-based setup where we discuss religion on a platform like this, free of judgment and with a high focus on softer elements, more about the macro understanding of faith.

I loved that while there were so many sessions, all were so light and discussion oriented that everyone felt engaged at all times. Consistently the feedback all of us got was that it didn’t feel like it was too much. None of these people knew each other (except those who came in pairs), and they ended up integrating so well despite being from different backgrounds and different levels of faith.

My favorite bits were all the self-analysis that the participants did through the different sessions. It wasn’t a test to see how good of a Muslim you are, but more about how you can be better and where you want to be. Multiple exercises asked everyone to measure their own levels, what they wanted to add, understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, simple actions to incorporate on an everyday basis. Some individual activities, some in groups. SO GOOD.

I think I don’t have to tell you guys that they had a lot of fun.

The part where they made penguin dolls by hand, from SCRATCH, for underprivileged kids. There’s something about doing something nice for a person with your hands; it’s really special and I think changes you as a person because your emotions and love are packaged into it.

They each made dolls for a specific child who they were ‘introduced’ to through their pictures, names and ages. SO sweet.

Any good workshop will end with something that you can take away with you and work on consistently. Everyone got to make personal action plans on what they would focus on going forward, from whatever they learnt during these days and felt inspired by. What a powerful ending. (They all requested for a small meetup a little down the road to discuss how things were going after the retreat. This was not planned and actually requested by the participants, so that tells you something, right?)

My two favorite girls in the world. Special shoutout to Shahroz Hyder for this incredible photography his team did, fully sponsored by him, and managed to really capture the vibe of the place. The energy of the participants, the fun they had, it’s not easy to capture it all when it’s spread across three days.

So heartwarming and emotional for me to see this dream of Sumika’s realized and in such a wonderful way. All of them developed real connections through these three days; when we don’t know someone and get to interact for a little while, it doesn’t always happen that you connect so well. But the amazing people who took a chance on their time with this retreat, trusted Sumika, and committed and participated so wholeheartedly; I’m so grateful to them. My heart feels warm and fuzzy.

And when you have good intent, Allah mian helps you in every way. Sumika got so lucky with each and every speaker who joined the retreat. All participants had such incredible feedback on all sessions. Some made them emotional, some had them cracking up with their humor. Each speaker was different from the other and delivered their content superbly. I can’t believe how amazing it was to have such a rewarding and brilliant pilot session of this retreat. Shahbaz from Ramadan Legacy, pictured here, actually volunteered to go beyond what he had committed and even helped kick off the session (which was not part of the plan) because he had already arrived in Pakistan from the UK for this. (Btw, all registered participants received Ramadan Legacy planners before Ramzan started to help them with their whole month so the retreat was three days, but Sumika had already started the process when the month began).

Also want to drop a tiny shoutout for two people who contributed their time, not as a business or sponsor. Just out of the goodness of their hearts. Nadia, who was so kind to tell Sumika that she wanted to volunteer her time for this, in any which way. She ended up making simple welcome packages for all the speakers, all cost entirely borne by her. No reason but to help out. Also, special love to Suniya (you can follow her here) for also reaching out and asking Sumika to share any extra work she wanted help with and ended up pulling together the Quran ayats that are part of the journal that all participants received.

Even though it’s pretty obvious from the energy in the photos that everyone who attended, loved this retreat. But I would still like to say this: I got the MOST INCREDIBLE feedback first-hand from people who knew me and had attended this. And Sumika directly got all the love in the world from the participants because this retreat really was life-changing. If you’re interested, you can also check out this very detailed recap by one of Sumika’s attendees: “How this retreat was the most spiritually uplifting days of my life”.

You can follow Afterglow on Facebook (here) and Instagram (here). You can also check out their very detailed website right here. They are just starting off and the retreat is just one of their initiatives so if you want to stay in touch with all the amazing stuff they do, follow them urgently.

And since I am doing this writeup and can say whatever I want, I want to take 2 seconds to put this out there: Sumika had this vision quite sometime ago and managed to deliver it single-handledly with a full-time, demanding job and two very spirited young kids (one of whom was just a few months old at the time). She had to handle a lot of challenges like paperwork details (because she’s registered everything properly with the right permissions/documents), struggle for donations (people who spend liberally on vacations questioned her on why a religious retreat needs funds), struggle for people’s belief in why this needed to be done (‘no one will register!’ Mashallah she had all her slots filled), and the biggest struggle of all: keeping herself motivated when you are doing all of this alone. She’s a hero and I know that Afterglow will be one day in many places, countries and hearts.

Once again, I’d like to thank all the people who trusted Sumika’s vision when there was nothing there to believe in except an idea on paper. Thank you for your donated time, products and contributions. I’m going to just list them once again here, if you’d like you can follow them as well.

Photography and videography (to come soon): Shahroz Hyder (Instagram, Facebook)
Ramadan Legacy Journals: Ramadan Legacy (Instagram, Facebook)
Breakout corners in the hall: Self Sorted (Instagram, Facebook)
Donation and discount vouchers: Chhab (Instagram, Facebook)
Giveaway Boxes & Tarawih Totes: Dotte (Instagram, Facebook)
Name Badges and Graphic Cushions: Ghazal Pirzada (Instagram, Facebook)

And here are all the sessions and the speakers who volunteered their time and delivered such exceptional sessions. I have linked their public pages so you can choose to follow them if you’d like (please note linking them here does not mean I endorse or support everything they may have said since I’m not aware of their overall body of work).

‘Islam As A Way Of Life’ by Wajih Uddin / ‘Namaz and Patience’ by Mehwish Sarfaraz / ‘A Productive You’ by Shahbaz Mirza / ‘The Extra Mile’ by Raja Zia Ul Haq / ‘The Extra Mile – In Action’ by Noha Mahdi (of The Mawada Project) / ‘Islam and Significant Others’ by Aaisha Aamir.

The ‘Light The Soul’ Retreat also got coverage in Parhlo Pink, if you’d like to check it out here.

Please, PLEASE share this amazing initiative with your friends and family. Afterglow is entirely non-profit and only working on donations so we’re ready for all the love we can get! Thanks for coming along on this trip 🙂