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Michael North | writer

@therealmrnorth

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Identical Twin, father, Muslim revert, life coach, & humble servant of الله . Married to the love of my life. #allahuakbar ☝🏽

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I pray that peace finds you wherever life has left you trembling. In the world’s wounded corners, in the rooms where you weep unheard, and in the chambers of your heart no one has entered. May it arrive like dawn, asking nothing of you but permission to rest.

I pray for every land beneath oppression, every mother searching the rubble, every child who knows fear before safety. Ya Allah, hear those the world refuses to hear. Never let us grow so accustomed to suffering that we mistake our silence for peace.

I pray for every mother whose baby returned to You through miscarriage, before her lullabies could become memories. Cradle the grief no one sees. Her arms may be empty, but her motherhood is not erased. May the hope of reunion in Jannah bring light to the days she struggles to endure.

And for every mother who has buried a child at any age. Whether she held them for a moment, or loved them for decades, they were still her baby. Ya Allah, carry her through birthdays, empty chairs, and mornings when she forgets, for one merciful second, that they are gone. By Your mercy, reunite them in Jannah, where no embrace must end in goodbye.

I pray you see yourself with gentler eyes. May you recognise the beauty sorrow has hidden from you. You need not exhaust yourself to deserve love. You, too, are worthy of the tenderness you give.

I pray that, when you are ready, you find room to forgive your parents’ human failings without denying your own wounds. May the child within you finally heal. You deserved tenderness then. You deserve it still.

I pray Allah guides you towards a life that gives your heart peace and your days meaning. May you come to see the good you bring to this world, even when you feel lost. And when the way ahead is uncertain, may He give you the strength to keep walking and the faith to trust His guidance.

When words fail, may you remember, Allah knows the sorrow before the first tear falls.

May He grant you relief so tender that one day you weep again, and realise these tears belong to joy.

Ameen. 🤲🏾 by @therealmrnorth

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16 hours ago

Today my abuela/grandmother turned 95. The matriarch of the North/Mendez clan that has always been so strong; emotionally, mentally, and physically. Seeing her weaken in her older age has proven to be especially difficult, but her continued presence on this planet is a gift that I am eternally grateful for. Maria Soto is my angel. She has always been so kind and generous to her grandchildren in ways I could never adequately convey or express. We celebrated her birthday by having an amazing meal in Manhattan and by giving her flowers both figuratively, as well as literally to show our eternal gratitude. This song is by one of her favorite artists that I also appreciated listening to growing up. I recall as a very young child with her blasting this record throughout her home while she cleaned and prepared meals for us all. All praise be to Allah for allowing her to exist on this planet for so long. Her company is cherished, her words are coveted, and her presence is adored. May she make it to another birthday a year from now Insha’Allah 🤲🏾. taken in Upper West Side by @therealmrnorth

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Stay away from people who claim to love you, but have grown comfortable taking you for granted. They know how to receive your love, your loyalty, your sacrifices, but suddenly need instructions on how to show appreciation. They never questioned your generosity while they were benefiting from it. Why does it become a problem when you ask them to acknowledge it?

You should never have to beg someone to appreciate you, or treat you with respect. If they say they love you but their actions never show it, ask yourself, are you holding on because they treat you well, or because you keep hoping that one day they will?

Have enough respect for yourself to stop giving everything, where even the smallest kindness has to be negotiated. Before you go to the moon for them again, ask yourself whether they would cross the room for you. by @therealmrnorth

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3 days ago

I cannot tell you where the journey begins. Perhaps with the night you stop running from yourself. But search deeply enough, and you may discover parts of your soul you never knew existed.

For me, it began with the wounded child inside the man I had become. I had to confront my childhood trauma, my mother wound, and forgive myself for hurting people who only wanted to love me.

My pain explained my behaviour. It did not excuse it. Healing meant having the courage to face both truths.

Then my father died.

His death broke my heart and cut something open within me. Somehow, through that wound, light entered.

How could I find peace in so much pain? How could my soul awaken while I ached for someone I would never hold again?

I wanted my father. Yet even in that grief, Allah’s mercy found me. With tears in my eyes, I began to see myself more clearly.

There can be beauty within suffering. Hold on to your faith. Allow yourself to grieve. Something extraordinary may quietly unfold within you, as it did within me.

Self-love was my hardest journey. Confidence, too. I had to learn to look at my past, without sentencing myself to live there forever.

The love I found became rooted within me. Through it, I learned to love another more deeply. With less fear, less pride, and more of myself.

Something Allah awakened in me felt beyond explanation… A tenderness towards what went unspoken, a connection that seemed to reach beyond the flesh.

This is how I love now. Through my mind, heart, spirit, and energy. Through astral projection, my spirit reaches beyond my body to meet yours where distance has no authority. To touch you where hands cannot reach, and feel you near when the world holds us apart.

Close your eyes. Give me your hand. Or simply stand near enough for the silence to hold us.

Perhaps something within you will recognise what my words cannot carry. Perhaps you will feel me near, before I have moved at all.

This is the deepest way I know how to love. With everything I have survived, everything I am still healing, and every measure of light that found me in the dark. by @therealmrnorth

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4 days ago

Few things disgust me more than a two-faced fraud. All that smiling in my face & apparently, neither face comes with a backbone.

If speaking my name with bitterness helps you sleep, enjoy your bedtime story. Just keep that same energy and stay away from me. Your absence has been wonderful for my peace. Credit where it’s due.

And to the rare ones whose word means something, who defend me in rooms I’m not in: I see you. You don’t need an audience to have integrity, or someone else’s name to make conversation.

I salute you, appreciate you, and thank Allah for you. 🫡🙏🏾🤲🏾 by @therealmrnorth

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11 days ago

Ya Allah,

Before I begin a journey, leave my home, or lift food to my lips, let “Bismillah” rise from a heart that remembers You. Let gratitude live in my actions long after Your name has left my tongue.

Give me the quiet confidence of a man my father would be proud to call his son. Let me stand firmly by my word, take responsibility for my failures, and have the courage to put them right. Keep my heart tender enough that my wife continues to find peace in the man I am becoming. May she feel loved in the ordinary hours, when there is no audience and nothing to prove.

Keep me close enough to the suffering of others that I never grow comfortable ignoring it. Forgive me for the days I cursed my empathy because it hurt to carry. Teach me to carry it wisely, and let the pain I recognise move my hands to help.

When my past weighs upon me, remind me of Your forgiveness. When praise lifts me too high, remind me how much I still need to learn. Bury my arrogance so deeply that I never mistake another person’s hardship for proof of my own superiority.

Keep me faithful to my five daily prayers. Grant me sincerity in my fasting and kindness towards those who can offer me nothing in return. Let my character honor the faith I profess, especially when I am tired, disappointed, or unseen.

Ya Allah, You know the man I was and every struggle within the man I am. Help me become a husband whose love can be trusted, a son who honors his father’s memory, and a servant who remembers You through all that he is given.

Ameen. 🤲🏾✨📿 by @therealmrnorth

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11 days ago

Beautiful day. Sun on my face, my heart open to Allah. I’ve walked through too much darkness to take this light for granted. There is still work to do, still a man I’m becoming, but today I pause and give thanks. Peace in my chest. Purpose in my steps. Alham’dulillah. What more could I ask for? ☀️🤲🏾📿 by @therealmrnorth

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15 days ago

You were only nineteen in this photograph. Today, you turn seventy five. And here I am, your grown son, looking at your face with tears in my eyes, trying to make words hold a love they were never built to carry.

This will forever be my favourite photograph of you. Before I knew your voice, before you ever held me, before I had a name, there you were. The young woman who would become my mother. You could not yet have known how much you would mean to the children still waiting to meet you.

On your first date, Dad told you that you would be the mother of his three sons. I look at this picture and smile through my tears. He was right. Before any of us could choose you, he did, and I will be grateful for that choice for the rest of my life.

Allah gave me a mother beautiful inside and out. But as I grow older, I understand that being your son means more than admiring your beauty. It means recognising the woman behind the word “Mom.” The years you have lived, the things you have carried, the parts of yourself you gave while we were still too young to understand their worth.

I see more of that now, Mom. And I thank you.

I adore you. I cherish you. There is no other mother, no other life, no other beginning I would trade you for. Of all the blessings Allah has placed in my hands, being your son is one I will never finish thanking Him for.

May Allah grant you health, ease, laughter, and many more birthdays with us. May you feel deeply loved. Not only today, but in the ordinary moments when you need it most.

Happy seventy fifth birthday, Mom. The girl in this photograph could not have known that, fifty six years later, her son would look at her and cry because he loves her so much.

But I hope the woman reading this does. 🤲🏾❤️ by @therealmrnorth

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16 days ago

There are those so imprisoned by their own misery that your smile feels like an insult to their chains. They will spend their days trying to extinguish the light you fought through darkness to reclaim.

Guard your joy. Let no bitter soul convince you that you must suffer to belong. Your smile is yours, paid for in tears they know nothing about. by @therealmrnorth

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18 days ago

Individuals exhibiting such behavior may experience feelings of jealousy, insecurity, and anger, often attributing their problems to you. However, when you assert your concerns regarding their irrational actions, they may resort to accusing you of projecting. Despite your efforts to maintain peace, they will persist in disrupting it. It is advisable to exercise caution when interacting with such individuals, as they demonstrate egocentric and manipulative tendencies. Prioritize your energy and avoid taking personal offense. Remember that their personal struggles will continue to affect them long after your departure. Do not forget to wish them all the best.✌🏽 by @therealmrnorth

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Before every meal, I say Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. In the name of Allah, The most gracious, the Most Merciful.

It is a small moment of remembrance before the first bite. This food did not appear by my hands alone. The earth gave, others laboured, and Allah provided. So I begin with humility, and I eat with gratitude to the One who sustains us all. by @therealmrnorth

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19 days ago

Don’t let her beauty talk you out of what her behaviour has already shown you. A woman can be charming in public and cruel behind closed doors. If she has a history of hurting people, believing you’ll be the exception will not protect your peace.

And brother, face the wound in you that made her feel familiar. Heal what happened with your mother. Grieve the love you needed and did not receive. Rebuild your self-respect, find your footing, and turn to God.

Healing will not make you impossible to hurt, but it will help you recognise the signs sooner, & give you the courage to leave before someone else’s cruelty becomes the way you see yourself. by @therealmrnorth

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20 days ago