The Scroll and the Soul
- Starting: November 3
- Every Tuesday
- Number of sessions: 04
- 12 PM EST, 5 PM UK, 10 PM PK
- USD 20
Protecting Your Heart in a Digital World
A four-session online course with Alimah Sobia Hasan
Course Description
Endless scrolling. Constant comparison. Distracted worship. Our digital habits can shape how we spend our time, what we desire, how we see ourselves, and how we relate to Allah and the people around us.
How do we benefit from the digital world while protecting our hearts from its pressures and distractions?
The Scroll and the Soul explores the spiritual, emotional, and ethical dimensions of life online. Drawing on the Qur’an, Sunnah, classical Islamic teachings on purification of the heart, and relevant contemporary research, this course examines the everyday choices that shape our inner lives—from the content we consume to the messages we forward and the approval we seek.
Across four sessions, we will explore attention and distracted worship; comparison, envy, and self-image; online speech and relationships; and the challenge of finding trustworthy religious guidance in an age of influencers and AI-generated answers.
Through relatable examples, guided reflection, and practical exercises, participants will develop a more intentional approach to technology—one that supports meaningful relationships, responsible choices, and a deeper connection with Allah.
Who Is This Course For?
This course is for women who want to understand how their digital habits affect their faith and daily lives, and who wish to make thoughtful, sustainable changes.
Whether you find yourself scrolling longer than intended, feeling unsettled by comparison, struggling to focus in worship, or wondering whom to trust online, this course offers an accessible starting point.
No prior Islamic study or technical knowledge is required.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Recognise their digital habits: Identify triggers for habitual scrolling and understand how online activities can displace worship, rest, responsibilities, and relationships.
- Understand the spiritual impact of content: Recognise how comparison, envy, the desire for recognition, and excessive attachment to worldly things can develop through everyday online experiences.
- Protect attention and presence: Apply practical strategies to reduce avoidable distractions and make room for focused worship and meaningful interaction.
- Practise responsible online conduct: Apply Islamic principles to commenting, forwarding, disagreement, confidentiality, and sharing information about others.
- Evaluate online religious guidance: Distinguish reminders and personal opinions from qualified scholarship, recognise the limitations of AI-generated answers, and know when to seek scholarly advice.
- Establish appropriate boundaries: Make informed choices about privacy, availability, and online relationships.
- Create a sustainable plan: Develop realistic digital habits that reflect their values, responsibilities, and spiritual priorities.
Course Outline
Session 1: Caught in the Scroll
Attention, time, and distracted worship
Why do we reach for our phones so often—and why can it be so difficult to stop? This session explores the habits that keep us checking, watching, and scrolling, and their implications for a life of awareness and worship.
Topics include:
- Recognising the benefits of technology alongside the demands it places on our attention.
- How notifications, endless feeds, and personalised recommendations encourage repeated engagement.
- Identifying personal triggers: boredom, stress, loneliness, avoidance, and the need to stay informed.
- Time as a blessing and responsibility.
- Understanding ghaflah: heedlessness of Allah and of what deserves our attention.
- Protecting space for ṣalāh, Qur’an, dhikr, and reflection.
- Distinguishing beneficial religious learning from consuming reminders without acting upon them.
Practical focus: Review your digital routine, identify what scrolling displaces, and introduce one manageable change to protect your attention.
Session 2: What Is Your Feed Feeding?
Comparison, desire, and the search for approval
Our feeds present an endless stream of desirable lives, appearances, possessions, and achievements. This session examines how repeated exposure can influence what we value—and how Islamic teachings help us cultivate sincerity and contentment.
Topics include:
- Comparing our everyday lives with other people’s carefully selected moments.
- Beauty standards, self-image, and the pressure to appear successful.
- Recognising ḥasad and cultivating qanāʿah and shukr: contentment and gratitude.
- Consumer culture, influencer marketing, and the feeling of never having enough.
- Likes, visibility, and the desire for recognition.
- Understanding riyāʾ: showing off, including in religious activity.
- Enjoying blessings and pursuing worthwhile goals with sincerity.
- Preserving a private life of worship and good deeds.
Practical focus: Review the influences in your feed and identify changes that support gratitude, sincerity, and a healthier relationship with worldly blessings.
Session 3: Behind the Screen, Before Allah
Speech, privacy, and relationships online
A comment, screenshot, or forwarded message can reach far beyond its intended audience. This session brings Islamic teachings on speech and relationships into the digital spaces we use every day.
Topics include:
- Applying the ethics of speech to posts, comments, reactions, and voice notes.
- Backbiting, slander, ridicule, suspicion, and online arguments.
- Why a claim being true does not automatically justify sharing it.
- Distinguishing legitimate advice-seeking and reporting harm from unnecessary exposure.
- Protecting confidences, family privacy, and children’s dignity.
- Seeking permission before sharing photographs, recordings, or private messages.
- Maintaining appropriate boundaries in online interactions.
- Managing constant availability and giving loved ones undistracted attention.
- Taking responsibility for harmful posts and correcting misinformation we have shared.
Practical focus: Develop a “before you post or forward” checklist and establish clearer boundaries around privacy and communication.
Session 4: Reclaiming Your Digital Life
Reliable guidance, thoughtful choices, and lasting change
How do we decide whom to trust—and turn what we have learned into daily practice? The final session combines responsible online learning with a realistic plan for sustained change.
Topics include:
- Distinguishing religious reminders, personal experiences, scholarly explanations, and fatwās.
- Why popularity and persuasive presentation do not establish religious authority.
- Recognising missing context, misleading quotations, and oversimplified rulings.
- Verifying religious claims and knowing when to consult a qualified scholar.
- Understanding the limitations of AI-generated religious answers, including inaccurate references and missing context.
- Using digital tools purposefully for learning, connection, and service.
- Choosing practical limits that fit work, study, caregiving, and family responsibilities.
- Replacing unhelpful habits with meaningful alternatives.
- Responding to setbacks and returning to good habits with patience.
Practical focus: Create a personal digital wellbeing plan covering worship, content, speech, privacy, relationships, and reliable learning.
Learning Approach
Each session combines Islamic teaching with contemporary examples, guided reflection, and practical application. Small exercises between sessions will help participants put their learning into practice without adding an overwhelming list of tasks.
Join us to reclaim your attention, make wiser digital choices, and nurture a heart more mindful of Allah.