I was going to talk about some advice I gave to a friend of mine. I wrote him an email and even as I was composing it, I was thinking I should add this to my blog because a lot of people might find it handy. He’s in film and media, completely different field but […]

When Ramadan first begins, the month stretches before you, looking endless, and yet here we are already 2/15’s of it has past. It goes so fast! And it reminds me of an Afghan folktale. There was a good king who ruled with kindness and wisdom, and his people wanted to get together to reward him […]

The blessed month has arrived, and even though I should be dreading the long summer fasts without food and water from about 4:44 am till 8:30 at night, I’m feeling excited. Last year was one of the best Ramadans I’ve ever experienced. It was calm and reflective and I’m hoping to carry that sense of […]

This is a line in one of my favourite chapters of The Quran, surah Inshirah. SURAH 94: AL SHARH or AL INSHIRAH (The Expansion of the Breast).  In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful  1 Have we not expanded your breast? 2 And removed from you your burden 3 Which galled your back? […]

Everyone should watch a movie in a cramped airline seat, with a six or four inch monitor, however big it is, and with lousy ear plugs. That way, they can really tell if a movie is any good. I always tend to watch movies after the hype has died down somewhat. I wasn’t very curious […]

Just found out that the illustrator of one of my books, Coming to Canada/A New Life  died. Never met her, but her work really moved me. She was an Iranian immigrant, came to Canada and lived here with her beloved husband for a while. He was an architect and died in a tragic accident a […]

I had an interesting exchange on the internet the other day, on that politics forum that I frequent. Basically this elderly man from Winnipeg suggested that Muslim women wear hijab basically to stand out. To distinguish themselves, and if all the women in Canada started wearing the hijab, then we would instead go bare-headed. I’m […]

I’m starting to prepare for the pilgrimage to Mecca this year. I’ve made my intention to go in November and join the over two million pilgrims from all over the world to perform the sacred rites that Abraham and his wife Hagar first inspired. It’s based on the Quranic and Biblical story of the sacrifice, […]

Well I guess I must be getting more tech savvy because I did indeed figure out how to unhide my spider solitaire and freecell. And since I’d done my work, I was itching for something to do, and I did go in and ‘unhide’ them. Well, I was too embarrassed to blog about it, but […]

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again  at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; This is the first half of the third stanza of Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘If’. And I’ve always thought that if gambling or drinking were at all allowed in Islam, I’d […]