Esam Shahlol: I’m making the Rafaah app.
I’m Esam, an eye doctor and the writer of the Al-Rafah letters. This is my app: daily habits, arranged around the five prayers.
- Free
- Reminds you to pray, never records it
- Arabic first
- Coming to Google Play
2/4
Wednesday 28 October · 17 Jumada I 1448Until Maghrib1:04
- Learn12:20 · after Dhuhr · 5 min
- Asr14:51
- Walk16:30 · before Maghrib · 20 min
- Maghrib17:16
How did we lose the golden-age mind?
Without computers or electricity, and with shorter lives, our ancestors made work that still astonishes us. I look for the secret, and write what I find.
Read the letters
Doctor, reader, maker.
I'm Esam. I studied medicine in Benghazi and work in ophthalmology in Germany. I write the Al-Rafah letters on health as our ancestors knew it: sleep, food, movement, calm and relationships. And I founded the Rafaah app.
AboutThe pillars of Al-Rafah
- 01
Relationships
وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً
Ar-Rum 30:21 - 02
Sleep
وَجَعَلْنَا نَوْمَكُمْ سُبَاتًا
An-Naba 78:9 - 03
Nutrition
وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا
Al-A‘raf 7:31 - 04
Movement
وَلَا تُلْقُوا بِأَيْدِيكُمْ إِلَى التَّهْلُكَةِ
Al-Baqarah 2:195 - 05
Calm
لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا
Al-Baqarah 2:286
Work
All work- The Al-Rafah lettersTwo letters a month on Substack, in Arabic: new research, golden-age wisdom and a personal experiment.Active
- A guide to learning languagesA digital book: how to acquire a new language, from my path into German.Online
- ArztWerdenA course for doctors moving to Germany, mostly free, built from my own licensing path.Online
- The Al-Rafah channelVideos on sleep, nutrition, movement and focus, in Arabic.Paused
Latest letters
All letters1 November 2026جلسة الرَّفاه (7): متى ستستيقظ الأمة؟لماذا نتحسر على الماضي لنهرب من مشقة اليوم؟18 October 2026لماذا تفشل الطرق التقليدية في تعليمنا اللغات، وما البديل الفعّال؟دليل عملي من تجربة شخصية يشرح لك كيف يتعامل دماغك مع اللغات الجديدة، وكيف تبني طلاقتك خطوة بخطوة27 September 2026جلسة الرَّفاه (6): لماذا نتعلم؟قراءة شاملة في غاية المعرفة الإنسانية13 September 2026كيف تستخدم الملل كأداة لإنقاذ حياتك؟ما الذي يحدث في دماغك حين ينقطع الإنترنت وتختفي المشتتات، وكيف يصنع الملل المعجزات
Two letters a month.
On Sundays, mid-month and month-end, in Arabic. Read by more than 25 thousand subscribers.