Ripples of Positive Change, featuring Nisrin (17) as told to Fatima Salaam
If you asked me to describe RabaTEENS to someone who has never heard of it, I would tell them this: It is a program for Muslim teen girls, and once you take the classes, you will get addicted. Nobody pressures you. You are just going to love it.
I know that for certain because it changed my life.
I live in Romania. My mother is Romanian and my father is Jordanian, and I am in my last year of high school. I love embroidering, reciting Quran, and reading poetry, especially the poems about the Prophet, peace be upon him. There is one line I hold close: Oh lover of Muhammad, you are so honored, because your beloved is al-shāfiʿ (the intercessor). I owe my love of poetry to Anse Michelle, who opened that whole world to me.
But I want to take you back to before all of that, to when I really needed RabaTEENS and did not even know it.
I had just started homeschooling, and it was so hard. I had no Muslim friends. The nearest community was two hours away. I felt alone in a way that is difficult to explain unless you have lived it.
RabaTEENS actually started for me with my older sister. She found it on Instagram and would not stop telling me about Anse Tamara. My first class was Butterflies and Boundaries with Anse Nishat, and honestly, I was forced into it. I read the description and thought, I don’t need this. I only did it because of my sister. But she made it special. I would go to her house and she would give me treats. After the first class ended and the screen went black, I felt so connected. I loved it. Then I am the one who begged to enroll in lots of classes. Sometimes when we are pushed into something, it is for our own good.
What I found was exactly what I had been missing: a community of girls. Friendship. I do not feel alone anymore, because I have so many friends from RabaTEENS. Real friends. We keep in touch between classes in our group chat, getting to know each other, being there for each other. I have not met any of them face to face yet, but I wish I could, and I hope one day I will.
RabaTEENS changed who I am. When I first joined, I was so shy. Now I have the confidence to speak up and participate. It even changed the way I see the world, through ākhira lenses as Anse Eamaan says. I know that every single day, Allah’s mercy is like glitter, it gets everywhere like Anse Umeda taught me from Anse Tamara. I carry that with me. There is something powerful about having a weekly space, an anse, an Islamic conversation to look forward to.
It has also carried me through hard times. There were a couple of stretches, especially around thirteen and fourteen, when those classes were exactly the support and the environment I needed. More recently, I told Anse Leila that I was feeling down because I could not feel my ṣalawāt the way I used to, and she gave me such gentle advice: Read a lot of sīra, hold on to loving kindness, and never despair. That is what the ānisāt do. When you feel low and need something to recharge, the classes come with barakāt, and Allah gives you from that barakāt.
I could fill a page with names. Every one of Anse Leila’s classes. Anse Michelle’s poetry. Anse Hadia Zarzour, whom I still think about and long to meet one day. And to anyone who has poured into RabaTEENS, especially Anse Fara, I want you to know: With every class, you are changing lives.
Now I am at a turning point. I am heading to university here in Romania, where I hope to major in psychology. I am starting to admin for Ribāṭ, and I am joining Anse Leila’s classes at Riverstead. More than anything, I want to give back. I would love to mentor, in any way I can, and help RabaTEENS grow. It has given me so much that I could never repay it in equal measure, but I want to try.
To any girl thinking about joining, here is what I would say. It is not like school. It is not ordinary. Imagine a space where you can finally relax, make friends, and have fun, with ānisāt who are so warm they make every class a joy. Just choose the classes that match what you love, and start there.
And ten years from now? Because of RabaTEENS, I hope to be a teacher myself, like Anse Hanisah or Anse Leila, helping teen girls find their way through these years and into adulthood. Did RabaTEENS prepare me for that? One hundred percent.