Excerpt from ‘The Road to Tarim’
The day before my journey I prepared everything that I needed and gathered every cent I had. My concern was that my ticket was paid, but I only had R7,000 and a few rand in
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
A Nostalgic Remembrance
When Naguib Mahfouz – the prince of the Arabic novel – accepted his Nobel prize for literature, he said in his acceptance speech that he was a child born from the marriage of two civilizations:
Reliance: How 9 Hours Defined My Hajj
In 2011, my wife and I embarked on our pilgrimage to Makkah – called the Hajj. For those who are not of the Islamic faith, here’s a basic explanation of the Hajj – and how it
Remembering Ramadan: A 33-Year Cycle
In 1986 Ramadan ran from the 10th of May to the 8th of June and I was born 10 days later on the 17th of June. The dates of Ramadan shift by eleven or so