The children’s school recently encouraged them to come in dressed as Superheroes and donate £1 to a charity that supports Rohingya refugees.  I didn’t like the idea of buying a costume to wear for one day and in the past it has been a lot of fun thinking of and making our own costumes. This […]

The quote for Day 17 of Ramadan from my box of things to think about is: “Allah will help him who moves in the way of Allah.” ~ Abu Bakr as-Siddique (radi allahu anhu) I couldn’t locate any commentary or analysis of this statement and I struggled to understand what exactly was being referred to.  On the […]

I was asked to review two toys by the PR firm for Discovery Channel toys.  They sent me the Double Globe Planetarium and the Digital Metal Detector (to be reviewed separately). I have seen a few variations of toys that have some kind of light show around stars or planets and really liked the idea of getting one for […]

Spent yesterday and today at my mum’s. My parents got back from Pakistan utterly exhausted after a nine hour flight to a house full of noise and guests so had to spend the next five or six hours entertaining guests much to our chagrin (at one point my dad’s best friend was chatting away to […]

The second day of Eid was a lot more raucous than the first one with everyone gathering at my mum’s house or HQ as my sister-in-law called it. Fashionista came with some really lovely cupcakes which caught everyone attention (they tasted as good as they looked). And one of my cousins brought this cake.  Lunch […]

Something that Muslims often refer back to and which gives many Muslims solace is the promise that no one will be burdened with more than they can bear: “Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear…” (Qur’an, 2:286). For some reason then, we do what we are obligated to do and then […]

I didn’t get much sleep last night with these three in my bed, Gorgeous has a habit of kicking everyone to the edges of the bed. But it was nice to wake up to these monkeys giggling away in the morning. Little Man pulled out a lollipop from somewhere for breakfast (he is still going […]

I had some news at work yesterday, which gave me pause for thought. After having worked here for only four months, I was called to see the senior manager with the rest of my team – a lesson in that; senior managers only call staff to meetings for bad news. We were told that our […]

Got back from Pakistan yesterday and still getting over the jet lag and difference in time, weather, quietness, light etc. Feels a bit surreal. The trip for the most part was lovely, although far from easy because of the heat, lack of time and culture difference. Apart from the mozzie bites we are all glowing, […]

I have picked up this book once or twice before, started it and for some reason not gotten very far. After reading A Mercy by the same author recently and being very moved by it, I decided to try reading this book again.In contrast to A Mercy which is set in the very early years […]

One of the things that I and my best friend do when either of us is down is ask the question “Tell me 10 things that make you happy right now?” I thought I would have fun with this prompt and give myself some things to feel good about. We are also just passing half […]

With my cousin getting married soon, I asked my youngest two if they wanted me to do their henna. I didn’t have to ask twice.  There were lots of telling offs and being told to sit still. I got some ideas from searching Pinterest (try kids henna and easy henna motifs) and copied the easy […]

We wait all year for my mum’s amazing iftar food, especially her soft, over-stuffed samosa’s.  The minute the hot pot opens there is a mad grab and she has to intervene and portion out the food, adding more after everyone has said enough. I was going to call this post Healthy Soul Food Iftar as […]

Irish Muslimah recently posed a question on her blog which I thought was very pertinent. She asked what kinds of food people prepare on Eid and how they celebrated. I also recently got into conversation with iMuslimah regarding how we celebrate Eid. It got me thinking about some of my childhood Eid traditions and some […]