After months of preparation, Fashionista’s wedding has finally arrived. Today is her henna night insh’Allah and the last few days have seen us all busy preparing with much laughter and bickering. Lots of preparation of favours, henna trays and displays has been taking place and I think my mum is sick of the sight of […]
This weekend my mum-in-law is flying back to Pakistan after staying with us for the last five months. She is here for about six months every year and her coming and going usually means lots of change in our home and family routine. I have written before (in The Art of Living With Your In-Laws) […]
I recently worked on a project where I had to do some research around litter and initiatives around the country to tackle the amount of litter people throw in the streets. It was an interesting project and I learned a lot, but one thing stood out – people throw litter in the streets but not […]
After visiting the pretty village of Luss in the Trossachs National Park, we decided to make our way round as much of the rest of the park as we could manage. image source From Luss we made our way up to Tarbet and Inveruglas, both as scenic, if not moreso than Luss and with lovely views […]
Most times when you feel like something is immense or significant, a little perspective can help you determine whether that really the case. Often we step back and see the bigger picture and realise that the thing is not as huge as we thought. But Ramadan is different. No matter how significant and special we […]
When I first got my bookshelves I loved them because they could house all my beloved books and more. Over the years thought they have gotten messier and messier with everyone using them as a place to dump just about everything: So I hankered to replace them, but never actually did anything about it. That […]
I am currently reading Parenting Skills: Based on the Qur’an and Sunnah by Dr Ekram and Dr Mohamed Rida Beshir. Something that surprised me was that they did not start with childcare tips, or parenting advice but with the idea of self-review or “mohasabah”, or reviewing what you have done every day. Although this was […]
The latest edition of Mum and Muslim magazine is now out including my column, feature on travelling with children, book review, recipe and entry for the creative corner. As always I have enjoyed reading what other sisters have contributed. Please do visit and comment.The editor, Sister Umm Imran has a message for readers: Assalamu alaikum!Inshallah […]
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 absolutely loved this article (http://afrocentric-muslimah.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-books-have-taught-me.html ) on Sister Saaleha’s blog AfroCentric Muslimah and it totally inspired me (I agree with her comment about Dan Brown).Books have always been my window on the world. I come from a conservative South Asian background and grew up with restrictions on most places I could go alone as […]
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 […]
Something I have always struggled with is my sense of identity. More amd more I recognise how strongly this affects the way I have lived my life and some of the decisions I have made. I got to thinking about it today during one of my marathon e-mail navel-gazing sessions with my bestest (who is […]
My first few days at the new office have been mixed, but I am glad to find that my experience there is improving alhamdulillah. The prayer room we were promised is still under construction, but the facilities people have been kind enough to point out various storage and utility rooms we can use in the […]
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 […]
