What We Hunt the Flame means to me

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Today, May 14th, marks one whole year of a life-changing book We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal and what better way to share my love and appreciation for this masterpiece than a whole blog post gushing about how much it means to me? So yeah… brace yourself, I’m about to go into full hype mode because this book means THE WORLD to me!

In my review for the book I said that I have never wanted to re-read a book immediately after finishing before and it still holds true! I never want to leave Arawiya! The world Hafsah created is just absolutely beautiful and to be honest, this whole reading experience made me re-realize my love for reading. While Zafira was working on bringing magic back to her home, Hafsah brought magic back into my life!

The year before (2018), med school became very overwhelming and my mental health really suffered for that. It was truly a terrible year for me and all I could do was hope that something would change and that I’d be able to get past the hole I’d dug myself into. There were a lot of personal issues that I had to deal with and there really wasn’t much that was keeping me from sinking deeper.

But then near the end of the year I saw something about WHTF and had to do a double take because oh my goodness a fantasy novel by a Muslim author?! Before that, I barely knew any Muslim authors, let alone in fantasy so WHTF really opened the doors for me to discover new books.

Then Hafsah had street team sign ups and in January of 2019 I found out I was a part of it! It might seem like something small but for me, it was something to look forward to and it gave me an outlet that I otherwise didn’t really have before. I became more active in the blogging community on my bookstagram and twitter because I finally felt passionate about something. I found a zumra that I’ll be forever grateful for and inspiration and a spark of creativity that had been so low for the year before.

When I read the book, I was even more inspired by the characters. I related to Zafira so much, especially because she had a lot of emotional development throughout the book. Her need to be needed and care for her people was something I felt in my soul. Her bravery and fierceness is something that truly inspires me.

“Be as Victorious as the name I have given you and bring the desert to its knees.”

This quote gave me so much power. And while my name doesn’t mean victory, I repeated this quote to myself whenever I wasn’t feeling motivated.

I’m just so thankful that Hafsah created such a beautiful story and characters that I could relate to. It’s crazy to think that one book really can change someone’s life, and We Hunt the Flame really did that for me. I honestly can’t even fully express how grateful I am that this book exists because I have no idea where I’d be without it.

So I guess I just want to say thank you. Thanks for helping me find the light in the darkness and telling me that Together, we are capable of anything. Thanks for helping me find a zumra of my own and for teaching me that the first step to getting anywhere is believing you can.

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