Review: 1441 AH

I was sent an electronic version of this planner in exchange for sharing my honest thoughts about it.

I am mad over planners. Everyone and their grandmother knows that if you show me a year planner, or a journal, or even a tiny sad-looking notebook without even a proper hardcover, I am the one to pet it and coo over it. The illusion of productivity is like a siren’s call for me – add that to the residual trauma of having an amazing idea for a story or book or somewhere and having nowhere to write it down when I was younger and didn’t have a phone glued to my right hand and you’ve got a captive audience.

Djarabi Kitabs’ newest release is the 1441AH planner which runs from August 2019 to August 2020. You might be thinking what on Earth, why such a weird starting point?

Well, that’s because our lovely lunar calendar doesn’t line up with this one. The 1441AH planner is (obvs) for the 1441AH year. It’s a hijri planner and I’m loving it. On the very first page, Papatia Feauxzar includes a dua Muslims are meant to read on Muharram 1st and then provides an additional dua that was prayed on the first day of every new month. That’s definitely starting right, in my opinion.

The layout of the planner is as follows: the hijri date, followed by the gregorian date, under which come three blocks: tasks, goals, and an “I’m grateful for:” block. Then come your day’s notes and a space for a quote that you find inspiring. And, above all of this is my absolute favourite bit of this planner: one of Allah’s beautiful Names to begin the day with. Once you’ve hit all 99, the next page is blank and asks you to fill in one of the beautiful Names of Allah to reflect on.

Between each month comes a page with a dua asking Allah to bring in the new month with blessings and protection.

I like the simplicity of this planner. I like that there’s a daily reminder to be grateful and I love the idea of conditioning the user to begin their day with a bit of dhikr, by taking one of Allah’s Names. I’ve never seen a hijri planner before – perhaps I’m just delayed – but the idea is a great one. Entirely unrelated to this planner (and before I’d even opened it), I found myself longing for more recognition of it in my own life. We use the Gregorian calendar because it’s standard and that makes logical sense. But we shouldn’t lose the hijri calendar or push it to the side to only be pulled out during Ramadan when it ‘matters’ to know the dates.

I say this to myself before anyone else: we need to immerse ourselves in the deen, using any means possible. I think that this planner might be a good place to start.