A Letter I’ve been Waiting to Send You
Soulful Smiles 00
﷽
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Assalāmu alaykum (Peace be upon you) my beloved. I pray you are well and in the best state of mind, body and heart.
If you are reading this, you stayed. You did not unsubscribe during the silence, did not forget this little corner of the internet existed. For that, truly, thank you. It means more than I know how to say properly.
I have been away for a while. Intentionally, quietly, away. Not because I stopped writing. I never stop writing but because I needed to step back from the noise of publishing and spend some time in the stillness of becoming. There was something I was figuring out. About this space. About what it is and what it wants to be. About the name it was meant to carry.
You may have noticed, if you follow along on Instagram, that the name has changed. Again.
I know. I smiled too, a little sheepishly, when I realized I was doing this again. But this time felt different. This time something settled rather than shifted. And I want to tell you the story of how it arrived because you deserve the full story, not just the announcement.
My name, Ibtisam means smile in Arabic. Not a wide, performative smile. A quiet one. The kind that belongs to a heart that has found something worth holding onto, or is still in the process of finding it.
I have been writing under various names since this space began. Ibtisam's Scattered Thoughts. By Ibtisam. The Qurbah. Rihlatul Qurb: twice, with different logos and different seasons of certainty. Each name was true for its time. Each one held something real. But none of them held everything.
And then one day, sitting with it all, I saw what had been there the whole time.
My name. The meaning of my name. The thing I had been writing about all along. The Smiling Soul.
A smiling soul is not a soul without longing. It is not a soul that has arrived or figured everything out. It is a soul that has found something worth returning to and keeps returning, quietly, faithfully, even on the difficult days. That is the journey I have always written about. That is the journey I am on. And that is the journey this space is for.
So here is what is new:
The brand is now called: The Smiling Soul
The website is live at: www.thesmilingsoul.co
On Instagram, you can find me at: @thesmilingsoull
This newsletter: Soulful Smiles is back. You are reading it now.
And here is what has not changed:
The writing. The faith. The Quran. The slow, honest, unhurried reflections on what it means to draw near to Allah in the middle of an ordinary life. The Ramadan series. The books. The becoming.
All of that remains. It was never going anywhere. It was just waiting as I was for the right name to carry it home.
This is not just a new name. It is a new season for this space and for the community gathering around it. There is so much still becoming, and so much more that I intend for this space, In sha Allah. And you, being here, reading this letter, are part of what it becomes. That is not a small thing. It means everything.
I am so glad to be writing to you again.
With love and gratitude,
Ibtisam
The Smiling Soul
