When I started my Substack in 2026, I intended to share what I’d written previously, as well as musings of the moment. This was the first poem I posted on social media soon after George Floyd was murdered in 2020. Rest in power, George, and may we be peace.

Now he said nicely that he couldn’t breathe. 
You pinned him down on the ground
You didn’t hear his plea. 

Yes, he tried to say that he couldn’t breathe. 
You didn’t give a damn
That George could barely speak. 

This ain’t criminal justice. 
Just criminal it is!

You oppress with your hatred
Your soul is so tainted. 
You can’t see what’s real
You won’t let their souls heal. 

Today you stole life
You ignited a fire 
Of a people who know strife 
Whose situation is so dire. 

What makes you so blind?
To be human is kind.
What makes you think you can choose
Whose life you spare and whose you help lose?

Examine your soul 
Your conscience
Your heart 
Cause you’re choking George with pain
Driving him apart 
From the people he loves
From the life he can live. 
We’ve had enough
There’s nothing more to give!

It’s time to be just 
Or as a society we rust. 
If in God we trust 
Then standing up for George is a must!

Now he said nicely that he couldn’t breathe. 
If a brother can’t breathe 
Then we can’t feel any peace!

By Maheen Q

Maheen Qureshi
Jahaan Institute LLC

This is for you.

Today I've served.
Today I lead.
Today I give.
Today I reflect
 on what I did
 what I could do
 what I should do
 on Yesterday
 on where I went wrong
 on what went right.
Because Tomorrow holds promise.
Tomorrow offers hope
 for a better life
 for fulfillment
 for a chance to improve
 to grow, to achieve, to find peace.
Then Tomorrow becomes Today
 and then Yesterday
 and then Last Year, Last Decade.
Have I learned? Yes.
Have I grown? Yes.
Do I have more growing to do? Always.
But when will Today bring the fruits?
 the satisfaction?
 the reward?
 the acknowledgement?
When will Today be enough?
When will Today be the day when Tomorrow becomes an exciting possibility?
 - not the day when I catch up to what I earned Yesterday?
 Last Year?
 Last Decade?
The Time is now.
Be patient but not too patient, my friend.
Life is but a moment in the infinite Universe.
Live Now.
Live Today.
Stand up.
For you.
For what matters.
For what's right.
And with others.
Take risks.
Channel fear into exhilaration.
Exhilaration from the knowledge that
 you are creating your path.
Today.
Let this be the Day.
A truly New Day. 
❤️

By Rafia Maheen Qureshi, Jahaan Institute
LLC

I wrote this in November of 2024 and shared it online. Perhaps you’ll get something from it. It’s interesting how within less than a year after writing this, I made a big decision to not continue on the career and life track I was on. That’s what “the journey” is about.

Love.
North Star.
Clarity about mission.
What? How? Who?
Guidance and anchoring.
Attachment-less.
Expectation-less.
Mission.
There’s only One real one.

North Star.
Source.
Self—Source,
Source—Self.

Shed the possessions.
Shed the belongings.
Submit.
Surrender.
Shukr.

Being.
Building.
Love.

How does one make a living being love?
How do we be and build love?
Love is already in our atmosphere.
It is the Universe.
Love is within us.

The Unconditional Love Experiment (through Jahaan).
I have a hypothesis.
Love is limitless.
Love is abundant.
We can capture carbon.
Can we capture love?
Why? No need to capture it.
It’s already available to us.
You and I are brimming with love.
There’s no need to contain and conserve it.
Let’s release it
From our hearts.
Let it be contagious.
We already know it is.
Why are you afraid, my friend?
To show, express, and reveal
That we are, indeed…Love.

Conditions are a weight, a burden
That I do not wish to carry anymore.
I gather, neither do you.
We want to be closer
And to come closer to Spirit.
We already know we need and want
Each other for work, business…
And the business of living.

If this calls to you, join me in an experiment.
Bring yourself, as unconditionally as you can.
I’ll do the same.
Free of judgment.
Light, not heavy.
Real.
That’s all for now.

With love.

Some color:

As I’ve experimented with you in 2025 - women’s empowerment circle, Jahaan Collective (all gender learning community), core energy coach training and sharing, a podcast (“Our Jahaan”), and musings on Substack - I’ve resigned from a job to open up more wellbeing and channeling towards purpose and essence during a significant life transition.

Some of you have pledged support or raised your hands to participate as I sought to begin monetizing the work of Jahaan Institute. Thank you.

This is informing my choices. I’m nudging myself to figure out how to make a living in a way that’s aligned. I’m intrigued by making funding flexible where I can - you can choose to join with a monetary contribution or for free. Either way, your participation means just as much. Let’s see where we go together.

R.M.A.A.Q.

Jahaan Institute LLC

Potential.
   Potent.
What’s possible.
   What’s powerful.

Always striving.
Always yearning.
Never satisfied.

Expectations.
   For self.
   For others.
Disappointment.
Disbelief.

Attachments.
   To ideas.
   Concepts.
   Mental pictures.
   People.
Expectations.
   From self.
   From others.
Illusions.

Capacity.
   A subset of potential.
   Always changing.

Choice.
Consciousness.
Capacity.
Potentiality.

Essence.
Nature.
Purpose.

Love.

By Rafia Maheen Qureshi
Jahaan Institute LLC

I’d resigned then to do my MBA full-time in 2002. In the years after, two jobs bid me farewell. Interestingly, I’ve worked full-time in my 20+ year professional career in two organizations - twice in each. So you can do the math.

This time, I bid farewell. Full circle. To begin something, I closed something else.

I’ve decided to share these things with you. See you on our travels, my dear companion.

Rafia Maheen Qureshi

Jahaan Institute LLC

I went to Córdoba 
Mezquita, Catedral, Temple 
The Salón that welcomed the weary traveler in the Andalusian summer.
 
I went to Granada,
To the Alcázar en Sevilla
To Aya Sofia
And Virginia to the iglesia 
Where I could pray Juma’.

To Arabia, Manila and Jakarta
The stars in the sky in Montana
Listened to another khutbah.

I prayed for the Spirit of Gaza
For Israel
For the Land and the Sea, and
For all of Your Creation to be. 
For all Your Creations to be. 

By Rafia Maheen Qureshi

Jahaan Institute LLC

Your song sweeps me to a land faraway 
Your refrain 
Far from being strange 
Envelopes me into your embrace. 

They say you speak your tongue 
And I speak mine. 
Yet your sweet melody is instantly my lullaby. 
Why?
But of course because we are One. 
My Heart is your Heart, 
and your Heart is mine.

I smile because I know somewhere in the Sands of Time 
we are One. 

By Rafia Maheen Qureshi

Jahaan Institute LLC

Every day I seek the path to find my purpose 
Is the path itself the purpose?
I envisage a new kind of conquest 
One where connection is victory
Where we retell and live a new human story 
Where half of humanity left invisible 
Is seen, affirmed and elevated

I ask, is this HIS-story? Or HER-story?
Or THEIR-story?
The circle is drawn 
It’s OUR-story 
Together we are indivisible 
There’s no man without woman 
Or woman without man 

How long are we going to fight against ourselves?
Plundering, neglecting in apathy
Hurting each other and our Earth

A new conquest calls 
Bigger than nations 
Better than borders 
Where humanity connects
Within, around and beyond 
Where we see our Earth and ourselves 
As one and not separate 
Where no human is superior to another 
And freedom abounds 
Where competition stems from an inner drive to be better than we were yesterday
Not to take away from another 

But the battle begins 
Inside me
My inner conquest 
The struggle is real 
Can I transcend?

Hold the stem with the thorns
As the fragrance of the rose 
And its beautiful petals enliven my senses 
I must remember that every path guided by love
Is pricked by thorns 
That the petals of the rose will fall 
And return to the earth 
Fulfilling this circle 
That we call Life. 

By Rafia Maheen Qureshi

Jahaan Institute LLC

Dec. 1, 2024

They told me I was from there. 
That there was one way to live. 
Until I lived
and I learned 
We are placeless 
Life is Timeless 
This is our home 
Everywhere, Anywhere. 

We are travelers
Since the beginning - if there even was one 
And we shall always be 
until the end - if there even is one. 

Your dancing
Your joy
Your sorrow 
Is mine, too. 

Your God
My God
Your nation
My tribe 
Your country 
whose borders change. 

Your ideas, your thoughts 
Your culture, your customs
My heritage, my ancestry. 

Your fasting 
My fasting 
Your prayer beads, your rosary 
My tasbeeh 
Your temple 
My masjid. 

The phases of our moon 
The brilliance of our sun 
The eternal, endless Universe 
Your calendar, your astronomy 
guiding my journey. 

The differences are beautiful constructs of our minds. 
We’ve walked the land since that other day - thousands - millions of years ago. 
Land submerged under today’s seas. 

We’ve explored, we’ve conquered. 
We’ve eaten and been nourished 
from the forest, from the jungle 
even the desert
From the oceans, the rivers, the lakes. 

We’ve searched for meaning, for rules, to tame us and free us
We’ve battled over land, the seas, rivers
Now we go into space, exploring 
and in time, conquering. 

And we’ve shared.
We’ve clothed the hungry traveler
Embraced the child whose words
are foreign
But whose laughter and tears
are just as spirited and sorrowful 
as our kin’s. 

I know you know 
Just as I do
It’s written in our souls 
We come from one place 
We spread our seed afar 
Cultivated the land, sailed the seas 
Settled, but never really settled.

The cycle will continue

Do not fear
Let us embrace 
Our solitude 
And togetherness 
The chaos of this world 
The calm of our Universe 

There is nothing to fear 
Because of love. 

Let our Universe be guided by love. 
♥️ جہاں Jahaan

Rafia Maheen Qureshi
Jahaan Institute LLC

Dec. 1, 2024

I wander through time

I seek the place

The One I’ll call home.

I search, I wait

I want -

I seek

purpose, fulfillment, meaning

I see, I feel, I hear, I taste

I close my eyes, I feel, I dream, I waken

Where am I?

Where do I know you from?

You are familiar and

You are strange all at once.

I’ve been here before

Yet I haven’t traveled here till now.

What you speak

How you say it

The food we share

The tea we have together

at the table

and on this floor

shared on this beautiful deep red cloth.

Your clothes

Your smile

Your tears

The ones you’ve shed

The ones you’ve brushed aside.

I know you, I see you

You know me, you see me, too.

How is it that

I breathe in the aroma

of something new -

No - something I already knew?

Where is Home?

Who am I?

My religion, my God, my name

My life

I speak, I sing, I hum

to the music you play

Your instrument, your voice

I cannot name it

I cannot hear you in one tongue

Until I awaken

and then I know.

Your language, your brew,

your food, your tradition

is mine, too.

Slowly, the realization makes me write -

Write this to your tune

Your words, your music

I understand it all

Except the translation of what you’re singing.

Because I don’t need to name it.

Your song permeates into my soul

Again, دوباره

encore, otra vez.

I listen, I feel, I love.

[End of Part 1]

-Rafia Maheen Qureshi

-Jahaan Institute LLC

There is no me without you. There is no you without me. As long as we’re on this planet, we can try as we might to claim that one person, tribe or identity warrants more support than another. Or we can awaken to the reality that all humans crave peace, safety, and comfort - and that none of these states are possible unless we create them and are willing to make space for one another.

Maheen Qureshi, a.k.a. Rafia

Jahaan Institute LLC

USA

Earth

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I’ve been writing raw poetry & musings for a while…

I’ve posted a few on social media here and there. It’s time to share what’s becoming a collection of reflections and a 360 degree mirror for our shared lives in this world.

1. Why now?

I’ve taken steps toward creating Jahaan Institute, my venture to bring us closer together in our beautifully imperfect world. To raise my own consciousness and shine the light for you, to change hearts and minds and be who we can be means it’s time to thread more of my smaller works together and share them with you. With you, there’s a “we” and an “us”.

2. What’s the intent of building community?

We learn from each other, from generations past, and our younger generations learn from us. We have an incredible opportunity to choose the world and lives we want to create during a time of strife and divisiveness. Let’s build our Jahaan (Universe/ World) to the highest potential we have available to us. Really.

3. What will I share?

I’ve written musings and poems I didn’t plan to publish in my journal or phone notes. I’ll start by sharing them and build from there. This is all quite raw. Here goes…