Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

31 July 2025

3-minute read

The feeling that a person gets from hijra is something Radio Islam presenter Muallimah Shakirah Hunter, is no stranger to. Having lived in Venezuela for many years before returning to South Africa, she mentioned that “there’s a different stillness in your heart when being out on hijra.”

On a recent umrah trip in Ramadhaan, she was inspired when she looked out the window in Madinah tul Munawwarah and saw the hundreds of thousands of people in their finest garbs waiting in the precincts of the Haram from the 11pm for the next morning’s Eid Khutbah. “There are people who are living the reality” of the wuqoof, of Layla tul Jaa’iza, she discovered, and they are taking that moment to stop and focus on Allah SWT for their needs.

Her dua to continue doing the work that she does while still finding the “ability to stop and still,” combined with her yearning for hijrah, was answered shortly thereafter. With their paperwork being processed, Muallimah and her husband and two children are now living in Madinah.

Touching on day-to-day life in Madinah, Muallimah Shakirah was surprised at the “immense amount of barakah” both she and her husband have found in their time. They were awakened to the true lesson of seeing how the ummah are dedicated to the kalam of Allah SWT. Muallimah and her family start their day early with work, ibaadah and teaching, then head off to the Haram after qayloolah with their children, staying there for around 5 to 6 hours. While her little daughter plays and runs around, they join the halaqas; Muallimah consolidating her dhor and her young son doing hifdh. “It’s overwhelming because of the way it grips you…it holds you,” she says.

While “we’re allowing Madinah tul Munawwarah to heal us,” she mentioned, their aim is to simultaneously be a source of comfort for the people who come there, especially their students who visit them.

They are in awe at the extreme generosity of the people of Madinah. There’s a payoff, she says, a balance between taking their kids out into nature to outdoor play areas and bird parks for play time and relaxation but then being drawn back to the Haram where everything is covered with a sense of purity. “Your heart and your mind and your soul just wants to get back to the Haram.”

Quran is “food for the soul,” Muallimah says, and a great benefit of living in the city of the Prophet SAW is the huge shift they experienced, where everything no longer centres around food but is rather structured around ibaadah.

Muallimah speaks of the amazing support structure she had back home and how she misses the physical interaction, particularly that of her sisters who helped them with the move. “I miss my people, but I don’t want to go back for them,” says her son. The “greater replacement” of having that feeling of closeness to Nabi SAW, a more intense attachment to the Aakhirah and wanting to be a better version of yourself is what keeps her motivated. “Separation for the sake of Allah SWT” has resulted in a sense of “deep calm,” something she has, for a long period of time, been longing for.

Listen to the full interview here.