Generally I don’t consider myself a superstitious person. I actually consider it a form of ‘shirk’. Shirk is considered the biggest sin in Islam. It’s the ascribing of any sort of partner to God. By imagining that something like a black cat crossing your path, or the number thirteen is something to beware of, imagining […]

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 […]

Today I had the radio interview with Shelagh Rogers and it went better than it ever has. Usually I’m so nervous, and I was, even when I sat down in front of the microphone, at the seat pushed up to a round table. There were posters on the walls and a miniature model of the Rogers […]

I’m going to be interviewed on Shelagh Rogers radio show The Next Chapter tomorrow. It’s on CBC, which stands for Canadian Broadcasting Company and is national. It’s not the first time I’ve been on her show. But the first time was a different show. Years ago, when she was host of Sounds like Canada she was doing […]

On Tuesday March 9th, I’m going to be interviewed on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) Radio by Shelagh Rogers. Yesterday a gentleman called me up for a kind of pre-interview and he asked me this question: “Why YA?” He was referring to Wanting Mor, my novel that is based on a true story and set in post-Taliban […]

twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your live to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: This stanza of the poem If by Rudyard Kipling, always reminds me of the Prophet (peace be upon him) Sometimes I wonder what he would say if […]

I subscribe to an email newsletter from a group called CAIR which stands for Council on American Islamic Relations. They’re a Muslim advocacy group and they field all kinds of issues that arise with regards to problems Muslims face in America. Most of them have to do with women who are fired for wearing the […]

I admit I approached my education in a very strange way. I decided to go to college (community college) before going to university. I went two years to Seneca college and studied, of all things, biology and chemistry. Eventually graduating as a biological chemical technician, not even a technologist, for goodness sakes. I wonder if […]

I was flicking channels and saw a bit of Interview With a Vampire starring Brad Pitt. Despite my squeamishness regarding the topic, I find it’s actually well written. The dialogue is compelling, at least as much of it as I watched a long time ago. I couldn’t get very far. Tried watching bits of Bram […]

I was going down to visit my parents today. Every time I go down I practically go past the middle school where I spent my grade seven and eight years. So many times I wondered if I, being a children’s author, shouldn’t pop in and introduce myself. Most of the time it’s not even an option because I’m […]