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 Right Age for Marriage?
I recently started following pages on Instagram relating to South Asian heritage and saw this caption posted by @southasianqueens: “I feel like marriage conversations and pressures often start much before the age of 24. I
Who is Rizwan?
Many of us, especially young Muslims of Colour in my generation, regardless of where we find ourselves geographically, have been following British actor Riz Ahmed’s journey from the time of its inception. Be it through
The Encompassing Nature of the Prophetic
Bismillahi ar-rahmani ar-Rahim In an article on the effects of secularism and liberalism on the Mosque, Dr. Abdul Hakim Sherman Jackson, observed that our contemporary approach to Islam as a mere “religion” was inspired by
The Malcolm X Series: Part II
Last month, this writer wrote an introduction to series of articles that are intended to draw lessons from the life of Malcolm X. In this part, we will examine his life from his birth up
The Malcolm X Series: Part I
A couple of weeks ago I was part of a group of men in discussion. The main theme around the table was how men can salvage their manhood in this day and age. One of
How to Pour Without Emptying
‘How do you pour without emptying yourself?’ I ask myself this question several times. The answer I get is always the same; ‘You don’t.’ The first time I felt this way, like I wasn’t doing
Kebabs and Jazz
There are some evenings warm enough that the restaurant opens its large windows and keeps them open after sundown. The music at this North London Turkish spot may have been scoffed at by my new
A Letter to Myself on my 20th Birthday
Dear Sobia, Happy 20 vulnerable years of your birth and sigh for Sylvia Plath isn't alive, she would had turned 88 today. Sigh! again. First off, let me start by saying that it's okay to