Ramadan in Art and Literature
Ramadan in Art and Literature: From Ramazaniye to Ramy The observance of Ramadan marks a significant time in the calendars of Muslims around the world who welcome it as a month of increased worship and
Dear Family of Believers
I Dear Family of Believers, There is much to say but I’ll keep it short. Ramadan Mubarak. This is a blessed month where the opportunities for forgiveness and reward are plentiful, don’t waste it. Don’t
Spring in Ramadan
Ramadan has been in the air as has snow and blossoms of spring in good ol’ Yorkshire this April of 2021. The joy of my favourite season and month have joined forces and it has
Ramadan: The Scent of a Total Life
Without a timeframe to makes sense of events, things cease to have meaning. Nothing has a beginning, and nothing has an end. Time is no longer experienced as something lineal, but as a succession of
Muti’ah Badruddeen’s “Rekiya and Z”: Carving Spaces for sub-Sahara African Muslim Fiction
In January, I recommended some books that I posited will improve one’s deen, and I also deconstructed the idea that only non-fictional books can give this desired result. Rekiya and Z by Muti’ah Badruddeen is one such fictional account that fits
Ramadan Nights
I’m one of those Muslims who has never celebrated Christmas, though like most Muslims in the UK, I know what Christmas excitement feels like. As a child, the frosty air feels like magic, an air
Oneness in Variation: Ruminations on a Linguistic Miracle
Last year was perhaps the first time that many of us spent the blessed month of Ramadan without attending the Masjid at all. We read all of our daily prayers and the additional night prayer
Mangoes and Memories: Ramzaan Through the Decades
My earliest memories of Ramzaan are from around three years old in Bradford. Our parents would feed us, put us to bed and then go back downstairs! We didn't really know why and opening roza
The Sacred Moon and The Sacred Month
As the month of Ramadhaan comes to an end, I am reminded of a conversation over coffee with a dear friend and she was telling me about where she drew her Divinity from, “The Moon,”
A Turkish American Story: Selma Ekrem’s ‘Unveiled’
Since I moved back to Turkey, I’ve been meaning to re-read Turkish American writer Selma Ekrem’s Unveiled: The Autobiography of a Turkish Girl (1930). And I was able to last weekend. Ironically, the first time I read