My little sister Kooky gave me this shawl (which came with a dress) to wear as a hijab. I love the teal colour and although I would have put it with black it actually worked better with chocolate brown. I didn’t have anything to wear with it, so I found these beads at the last […]
I go through phases of feeling inspired by everything with ideas coming at me left, right and centre and down periods where I just need to push myself to get through the day and get things done and nothing piques my interest. At the moment I am in one of my “inspired” phases, with inspiration […]
I knew it would happen, I just knew it. It did. This time though there is no satisfaction in being proved right. I’ve felt quite grateful that we have been provided with a quiet room to pray in at work although I had my misgivings in the beginning when the brothers used the prayer room […]
I was born and grew up in this city and unlike all of those that complain about England having gone to the dogs, I love living in this city. London must be one of the easiest cities in the world to be a Muslim in, or whichever faith you choose to follow. I feel comfortable […]
I wonder if this blog sometimes can come across a bit Mary Poppins, I do try to be positive and see the good in life, but I don’t like to hide the painful or dark bits. I know the last two months will have been hard on most people and even more tough on the […]
What I love about Ramadan this year is: My husband doing dawah work, something he is passionate about and something I hope we will get equal reward for supporting him in. The long days without eating that free up time to do other things That quiet time in the morning after suhoor when you can […]
I was honoured to host Fashionista’s nikah at my home earlier this month. We had close family there and the grooms close family also attended. We all mucked in to get the house ready and mum and I split the cooking between us. Everyone was very quiet until the nikah had taken place, after which […]
The decor was in jewel-like shades of turquoise, lime, purple and hot pink and we had asked for an Arabic theme. We arrived at the venue two hours before the henna and set everything apart from the stage up, moving tables around and working out how and where to seat people. My brother and some […]
I have always wanted a nice room for the kids, but am not very good at DIY or getting the decor just right. On the weekend I decided to make some changes anyway. The kids room is really cluttered (partly because my various in-laws stuff also gets stored in their room) andmainly because of too […]
It probably sounds a bit pathetic, but neither my family, nor my in-laws, nor my parents family have ever had a barbeque before, so we thought we would start a tradition. Also, noticing the fun we seem to have at our ladies only Eid parties, my husband has been threatening for ages to have a […]
If you follow me on Instagram stories, you will know that my oldest three kids have travelled to Pakistan without us to spend their summer holidays. We thought it was too long since our last visit to Pakistan (or abroad for that matter, ten years ago) and that they were missing out on their language, […]
What a horrid morning. I woke up feeling so miserable today and spent the whole morning veering between rage and sadness, with everyone feeling the brunt of it. The house is still being refurbished and we are still living in two rooms. Everyone has colds and coughs and keeping everyone organised and with a routine […]
I hosted Eid the first day and decided to invite as many close and extended family as I could muster and get everyone fed in one go. I am a big believer that where two eat, three can share and where 20 can eat, another 10 can squeeze in insh’Allah. I planned the food a […]
A friend called me yesterday to pay her condolences and see how I was. Sometimes a gesture that seems small to the doer can be so significant for the person on the receiving end. For the last few days I have been wondering why I haven’t been grieving in the way I thought I would. […]
