I was doing some research for work today on equality in sports participation and one of the most striking findings I came across was the lack of participation of Muslim women in Sports. Quite a few of the research reports and studies had attempted to gauge the reasons why Muslim women did not participate in […]

I have had this Camelia plant for six years and this year I sauntered out into the garden and got a surprise when I saw it had finally flowered for the first time. I was rather pleased to see the big, bright rose-like blooms and the buds all waiting to explode. Rather worth the wait […]

We are all recovering from colds at the moment, multiple-month long colds. How I crave for the warmer weather!! I asked the kids to bring me a spoon for their medicine. I finished my prayer and turned around to find all three standing there with spoons at the ready. I think there is waaayy too […]

I was travelling for work today for a team away day and came across these lovely books in Wanstead Library: a selection of Penguin cloth bound classics.  Beautiful covers in bright colours are in fashion right now because people like to take artful pictures of stylish bookshelves (book shelfies).   These were more than just display […]

I managed to sneak in some time today between grocery shopping, freezing kebabs and marinating chicken legs to make some Eid banners/bunting. The hardest bit is always getting the triangles for the banners right.  It took me a few attempts and lots of wrong pencil lines to figure it out. Little Lady helped to choose colours and […]

We usually throw one Eid party a year for ladies and children but in the last year or two I had found these getting rowdy and moving away from my aim of providing a halal environment for my Muslimah friends to meet, enjoy and in some small way remember Allah (SWT): Abu Hurairah and Abu […]

Alhamdulillah, every time I read the Prophet’s (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) sermon on Ramadan I find something new and moving in it.  It never fails to inspire me, remind me how blessed Ramadan really is for us and take me back to why we fast and what we should be doing during this special month: Baihaqi […]

Some days my entire day revolves around my youngest two and I keep trying to find moments to get something else done apart from feed, change nappies and placate crying babies.  Today was one of these days and I just surrendered to it and decided to enjoy them. I nursed throughout the day, played with […]

What sound are you grateful for? I love laughing and I love laughter I love it when my mum calls me Farri, a shortened version of my name. I love the sound of glass bangles; they remind me of my mum when I was a child. With a big family and noisy household, every now […]

I usually plan trips with my children to places I think they will learn something from as well as enjoy: museums, the zoo, castles, somewhere that has beautiful scenery. In recent timers, my older children have mutinied and decided they would rather stay at home than see one more old house or castle. This half […]

The Mediterranean biodome at the Eden Project is my mum’s favourite part of the Project and I love the warmth and beauty of the gardens.  But my favourite part is the Rainforest biome – hot, exotic, with striking plants, and did I mention it’s hot? Temperatures go up to 35 degrees celcius and the space […]

I had a very ordinary day yesterday – shopping, a visit from my best friend, dinner at my mums, but in some ways it was one of these pivotal days for me, the kind that turns things on their head and changes my thinking. I have had a busy few days and had been quite […]

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 […]

This is the second, much-awaited novel by the author of The Kite Runner. Longer and covering an even longer span of time in the history of Afghanistan, this book is different in the first instance from The Kite Runner due to the fact that it is written from the viewpoint of women. Where the semi-autobiographic […]