Held by the Vast

Khadija Amjad

In Norway, I learned that solitude can be a gift. It was my first solo trip, which I embarked on with much trepidation. However, with every leg of the journey I felt my anxiety slipping away. 

Standing beneath an endless sky on a ship in the Arctic was something I never imagined I would be doing. Searching for whales in an endless sea, I felt small but not alone. The mountains, the sea, the northern lights moving without urgency all seemed to point to the same truth. Amid the peaceful stillness, immense beauty and frigid cold of Tromso, I found clarity and peace, the kind that only comes when distractions fall away and you can’t feel your feet. 

Woven into that solitude was suḥbah. Norway reminded me that closeness to the Creator can be found in both silence and companionship. 

The ocean is vast

I feel small before His signs

Yet not alone at all