It is with sadness that I note that Brother Umar Lee has decided to stop blogging. His blog provided an interesting insight into the way brothers might think and also a voice that might appeal to some of our more wayward brothers far better than that of a haranguing or crying sister might have done.Brother […]

I invited my uncle’d family for ifatr today and hubby invited his friend’s family, so I thought I would give up on the whole simplicity idea for the day and attempt a hearty meal.

Last week Little lady had a school trip to an event called Countryside Live.  We looked it up together on the internet  to give her an idea of what it was about and I found that entry was only £4 for adults and free for children and there seemed lots to do. Little Lady came […]

One of the things I wanted to do for a long time was learn Arabic so that I could understand the Quran in the language it was revealed and insh’Allah also benefit my children in this way.  I started my maternity leave in October, a few weeks before a new Islamic Studies course started locally, […]

Last Saturday the crystal rondelle (donut-shaped) beads I had ordered turned up, absolutely making my day. I set to sorting them and playing around with them for inspiration. I strung the beads onto plastic wire starting from darkest blue to lightest green and tied the ends to a length of chain to give the necklace […]

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 […]

I usually spend my lunchtimes at work reading or chatting with colleagues, but after days of grey clouds and rain, today was so bright and sunny I was tempted outside. I walked far enough to end up near some docks in East London.  I loved how the water sparkled with sunlight and has to take […]

I was sent this book by Umm Nassim (over at the excellent Islamic Unit Studies) as part of a book swap earlier this year. She picked up on my desire for some light reading and thought this might fit the bill.Monsoon Diaries is Narayan’s account of her childhood and teenage years amongst a large family […]

The last fortnight or so has seen me in a strange mood with my husband being his patient and sensible self and trying to quietly support me through it. I’ve been thinking a lot about my past and how it has affected my future, how it has affected my life chances and my children’s chances.  […]

I get the usual call of “Quick Mum, Look at thiiiis!!” and turn round to find Little Man in mid-air, hands on the sofa feet wedged against the fish tank.This is about right considering the number of times I have had to coax him down from bookshelves and chairs-on-tables. My first reaction “Oh my God […]

After about three years of putting up with a dodgy oven that scorched the bottom of everything, we finally replaced our oven. The babies have been pestering me for ages about baking with them and I have been fobbing them off with the dodgy oven excuse. Now that we had a new oven, I couldn’t […]

I hosted an iftar for my parents this weekend.  No one seems to be able to eat very much and I ended up with so much food left over.  I decided we could eat the food for the next two day and I would not cook anything new. This evening, just before iftar, a very […]

I have been a bit slow the last few days.  Struggling to get up, slow to get anything done.  I’ve been feeling demotivated and letting the late cold snap and an ongoing cold get to me.  So when I woke up yesterday I had a long list of things to do all going round in my head […]

The first time someone called me Aunty, it kind of stopped me in my tracks. I was about 19 or so and thought – me? Aunty? As it was a small child, I thought it was kind of sweet and it made me feel quite grown up. Now many years later I am an aunty […]