Amany Shalaby


Amany Shalaby is a chaplain at Muslim Women’s Organization and founder of Universal Chaplaincy Inc., for Hakima (chaplain) training. She obtained her postgraduate diploma in Islamic Studies from the Islamic College of Advanced Studies, London, UK, and her Master’s Degree in comparative philosophy from Middlesex University, London, UK. She obtained her certificate of completion of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Level I from AdventHealth. She also obtained an ijazah from Sidi Shaikh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal, who was an Imam for al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Palestine. She served for twelve years as the Shaikh's simultaneous interpreter, and she translated twenty books on Islamic spirituality that he wrote. She has eighteen years of experience providing spiritual care for several communities across the U.S. Amany is the author of The Essence of Creation, The Emanation of Consciousness, and Hidden Pearls. She also authored two children's books published by Richard Ownes Publications Inc.: Goha and His Donkey, and The Little Puffer Fish.

 

You Made Me Whole

 

Light: The Dawn of Childhood

(To me, this art piece shows the opening of the five senses – made of wood pieces that I colored and glued together.)

Alhamdulilah For the joy of sensory perception

And for my family’s and friends’ affection

For the carefree wander and the make-belief wonder!

For the summer vacations

And the Eid celebrations

Thank You also for the fears that taught me boundaries and limitations

and at times led me to find my courage and attain exhilaration

The Tree of Growth: My Teenage Phase

Alhamdulilah for the giggles with friends at school

For my secret journal that kept me cool

For opening my heart to dream of love

And opening my mind to the world around 

And the world above

And thank You too for the sadness and the void

That made my soul-searching steady and solid

Thank You also for even the suppression and tension

That led me later to doubt and question!

Thank You for Your assertive intervention

Thank You for giving me solid roots, 

And for keeping my life grow branches and fruits  

Earth: Seeking Stability, Purpose and Love as an Adult:

(Pieces of my life, coming together, but not fully!)

Alhamdulilah for graduating from college, finding a job

For all the joys, struggles, and thrills!

And thank You too for the challenging hills!

For they helped me sharpen my skills

Alhamdulilah for marriage and the experience of deep union

A precursor, that prepared me for the holy communion 

Thank You too for learning how to shred garlic and peel union

And alhamdulillah for the greatest gift of offspring

Who makes my heart, out of joy and love, warm and deeply sing

Thank You also, for the challenges they bring

For the wisdom, the meanings, and the lessons in my mind, they ring

 
 

Water: Migrating to the USA

Alhamdulilah for the excitement and anxiousness 

And for increasing my knowledge and expanding my consciousness 

Thank You for giving me courage after nine-eleven 

That led me to study religions and make my passion for the truth enliven 

And through You, try to bring to earth, a tiny piece of heaven

Thank You for using me as a bridge between East and West

By learning from both worlds, I feel fully blessed

Fire: Divorce & the pain of separation

Alhamdulilah for burning me in that fire!

For what it uncovered and continues to inspire 

Thank You for the loneliness, the brokenness, and the burning 

For feeling not enough and for the deep yearning

For making me question the true meanings and roles 

of the masculine and the feminine 

Thank you for helping me redefine the meaning of beauty, and how to be genuine

Ashes: Death & Resurrection

Like a phoenix, out of ashes, You made me rise

For the death of the illusion, indeed, there is a worthy price

Yet, You compensated me with an invaluable prize

With an element of astonishment and surprise

You showed me that, indeed, You suffice 

 
 

Air: Vision and Mission

Alhamdulilah for guiding me to my purpose and meaning

Thank You for the healing

For the outer support and the inner seeing

For aiding me in translating, writing, and reading

For granting me the whole spectrum of feeling

For giving me the courage to sharing

Thank You so much for those who are caring

For the wonderful trips, for the dhikr gathering, and the spiritual rearing

For the hard work, the sleepless nights, and the sheering

Thank You also for the continuous trials, obstacles, and the continuous peeling

Of my veils, my misconceptions, biases, and for shattering my ceiling

Thank You, for Your best life sacred engineering!

Light, Trees, Earth, Water, Fire, Air: You Made Me Whole

Alhamdulilah, You made me whole

And You continue to nurture and grow my soul

You unified my fragmented self and showed me there is no hole

Darkness: The Unknown Future

I learned that darkness is the absorbance of all light

Darkness is layers of light upon light

And we are all climbing to the height

Yet, anxiousness is a normal excitement not to fight

And to You is my refuge and flight

Please, always give me the inner sight

To know that in the midst of darkness, Your light will still be shining so bright!