Ramadan Kareem everyone, May Allah (SWT) give each of us the opportunity to benefit from this blessed month, to increase our ibadah (worship), to seek forgiveness and to attain Allah (SWT)’s pleasure insh’Allah. (image source) “Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you many learn […]

Over the last few years, my post that often get the most views are about Ramadan, especially the list of links to useful resources and information. So I am compiling a list of the good stuff I come across and which comes into my inbox.  I will add an image and link to the sidebar […]

I hope everyone’s Ramadan is going well and they are managing to get rest, appropriate nutrition and make times for lots of worship insh’Allah. Despite my best intentions, I haven’t been able to blog for a number of reasons. We are just about half way through Ramadan and it has passed in a blur. For […]

I wrote recently about some of the things I do to prepare for Ramadan with less than a month to go. One of these was preparing the kitchen for Ramadan and some meal planning.  This can seem daunting, especially if you have small children, fussy eaters or limited space as can meal planning for the […]

Fashionista knew I would be a little sad that she couldn’t come to my Eid party last week.  She is the furthest away of my sisters and the one I get to see the least, although we have our daily WhatsApp conversations and pics of my beautiful niece alhamdulillah.  She had a prior booking with […]

Two days before the wedding (and on the last night of the dholki nights), Fashionista had her henna done.  The women who did it was amazing and did a beautiful job, working away down the length of the brides arm  all the way to her finger tips. We organised another henna artists to attend to do the […]

You know those moments when you are excited?  So excited that you feel like jumping up and down and can’t sleep?  Well its 12.30am and I am having one of those moments. Since the last few years I have really wanted to learn Arabic and understand the Quran better.  Not only did I not know […]

I looked at my profile and saw hijab-loving as part of my self-description. It made me wonder why I put this first. Perhaps because it has become so central to who I am and because of all of the benefits I have received from it.Mainly this has been the amount of time I save in […]

Hotel Chocolat is one of my favourite brands (I love chocolate).  I did a review for them in December last year, so when they asked me if I would like to do another, I agreed. I was offered a few options they are offering for Fathers day, some of these had alcohol, so of those […]

I am a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction and this book seemed to appear in a number of top ten/best of type lists, so I really wanted to take a look.  The Road is the story of a father and son who are travelling through America ten years after a major disaster has hit the country […]

Rani Manicka’s first book, The Rice Mother, was a wonderful read for me, one I savoured and revisited. My accidental discovery of her second novel in a Pakistani bookshop whilst looking for something to accompany my daytime siesta was therefore a nice surprise. Right at the outset Manicka makes it clear that this book is […]

I picked up this book from my local library in a rush, attracted by the declaration that it had been voted “ Scotland ’s Favourite Book” and not having read anything termed “Scottish literature” before.To begin with I found the book hard to get into and after a few pages put the book down ready […]

Because of the number of new mums and mum-to-be around me, I thought I would put up some of the recipes (or home remedies – desi nuske as we call them) that my family and many people from the subcontinent use around this time.. The most important are the following two and can be adapted […]

I have asked to join in with the swap Sister Farhana is arranging over at Sketched Soul. I have to send my favourite book to my swap partner, and on receiving the same from her, read it and send her a present which reflects the book she is sending me. Firstly, trying to pick one […]