Symmetry? Not For Me!

Salaam Minara Family,

How are you and how was your week?

Alhamdulillah for another Friday!

As is the way of life, we’ve been occupied with the blur of busy days: making decisions; adapting to changes; reading and learning; musing and growing [we hope!], working and praying [alhamdulillah].

A musing we’re sharing: so we encountered a house yesterday on an evening stroll - it was pretty big, painstakingly maintained but also strikingly symmetrical.

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Here’s the thing though…

The symmetry really threw us off balance - a lesson in irony anybody?

The house was beautiful, that can’t be denied. But something about the spatial composition of the house: two houses merged together, designed to quite literally mirror each other in absolute symmetry, the doors, the windows, the chimneys, the drives. Something materialized right out of a fairy tale, you know the one that starts with ‘Once upon a time’. In a quest to capture a perfect beauty. [All puns intended!]

Peppering you with questions: does perfection lie in symmetry? Is symmetry different to balance?

Is anything in life truly meant to be symmetrical?

Nature certainly doesn’t insist on it right? A tree never grows two identical branches and rarely is a face perfectly mirrored. Yet, both are still beautiful. Symmetry might be pleasing to select eyes but it’s often a fiction - like that once upon a time fairy tale - a human desire for order in an inherently chaotic world.

What life offers us instead is balance, not sameness or symmetry but equilibrium.

Symmetry demands perfection, conformity and duplication. Balance invites difference, uniqueness, individuality, and hey perhaps even tension!

As long as there is harmony in the whole.

Yes, let’s read that again:

as long as there is harmony in the whole.

Life doesn’t need to be equally split between joy and sorrow. It just needs balance to feel whole - enough light to bear the darkness perhaps? There is no proportionate symmetry in the good that we do and the mistakes that we make - again just enough good to repair, repent and heal.

Perhaps symmetry is a blueprint; balance is how we actually live.

And of course, Minara being Minara - we had to tie our musings on balance and symmetry back to salah. ⬇️

Sorry not sorry!

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We’re also sharing a little request at the very end to help another Muslim brother. Appreciate you all! 🩵

Chasing balance - not perfectionism

Salah should be seen as a pathway to balance, not rigid symmetry or unattainable perfectionism.

Here are five encouraging reflections we’d like to share with you to help embrace balance and shed that perfectionism!

1. Anchor, Not a Stopwatch
   Treat Salah as a grounding rhythm, not a rigid schedule. Think of it not as praying at the perfect minute but instead as a return to alignment with yourself and your Creator throughout the day.

2. Presence Over Performance
   We need to let go of the need for a “perfect prayer.” Focus on being present - even if your mind wanders. Gently returning is an act of balance, not an act of failure.

3. Checkpoints for Balance
   View the five daily prayers as a built-in check-in system: Are you moving too fast? Have you paused for breath? Each Salah offers a reset rather than a performance or production!

4. Let it Meet You where You Are
   Don’t wait to feel ‘pure’ or ‘ready’ to pray. Salah isn’t for ‘perfect people’ [who by the way do not exist because only Allah is Perfect]. Salah’s a tool for all of us imperfect humans to return to balance, especially when we’re off-centre.

5. See the Arc, Not the Line
   Across a day, a week, or a life, the balance of effort matters more than perfect execution. One missed prayer doesn’t undo your faith, just as one unhealthy meal doesn’t define your nutrition. The goal is always consistency.

Show up as you are, wherever you are.

Just show up.

The annual London Marathon took place again just last week in the UK and we read something that we thought applied so beautifully to salah. So we’re sharing it here, adapted to our vision of prayer.

“… this race is for every pace, every person, and every story. Because [salah] belongs to everyone - and sometimes, the most powerful finish is the one that takes the longest to reach.”

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credit: @pghmarathon

And finally, just a little nudge to head over on our socials where the Minara team this week touch on this concept of balance in the form of salah and self-care, affirmations from the Prophet [peace be upon him] and re-finding khushu’ when you feel like you’ve lost it!

Oh and before we go, we would be so appreciative if you would take a minute [or 3!] to complete this short survey using the link below. It would really help a Muslim brother who is developing another tech product with the intention of helping us with our prayers.

 https://wopbndci.forms.app/wearablesdiscovery 

May Allah reward you!

That's it from us for now. Here's to a balanced week in sha Allah!

Happy weekend friends,

The Minara Team