Beach or mountains? Which do you prefer? Why?

From the series: ‘Reflections from Tarim’

If you asked me, “Beach or mountains?”
I would answer without hesitation: Mountains.
But not just any mountains;
The Mountains of Tarim.

Let me explain…

Tarim is a sacred valley cradled gently between colossal mountains, so vast and protective that homes now climb their slopes because there is so little flat land below. The city rises from the earth the way hope rises from a heart seeking God.

People don’t come to Tarim for luxury or spectacle. They come because they are tired. Tired of chasing Dunya from morning to night,
only to return home to more Dunya.
Tarim calls to those who are thirsty for something deeper for remembrance, for stillness, for the kind of guidance that nourishes the soul.

It is a place illuminated by the descendants of the Beloved ﷺ,
those whom he entrusted to us when he said:

“I leave among you two weighty matters:
the Book of Allah and my family.”

In Tarim, this is not just a narration.
It is a way of life.

There is no Tarim without its mountains.
They stand like ancient guardians around the valley, silent, colossal witnesses to centuries of seekers, scholars and lovers of God.

My love for Tarim doesn’t end with its people.
It spills into its dusty streets, its simple rhythm of life, its devotion to family, knowledge, and God and into the humongous mountains that appear in every direction. Those mountains have become beloved to me because everything surrounding the beloved becomes beloved.

They say that true love for a person or place
makes you fall in love with even the dust beneath their feet. And that is what Tarim did to me.

Tarim stole my heart the moment I arrived in 2017. I had travelled the world before and after,but nowhere ever held my heart the way this valley did. I thank my father for taking me that day for introducing me to a place that would live inside me forever.

So when you ask me again:
Beach or mountains?
My heart smiles, because for me the answer is simple.

Mountains; because I love Tarim.

And when your heart belongs to a place,
you fall in love with everything that holds it.

Until next time….

Peace be with you.