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BLACK FRIDAY, CYBER Monday, mid-season discounts, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, summer sales, Halloween; the calendar is now filled with an ever-growing cycle of promotions, each urging us to spend. And spend we do. This raises two important questions: Why are we buying things we don’t need? And why are we buying … Continue reading Consumed by Consumerism: Buying Things We Don’t Need With Money We Don’t Have

IMAGINE FLEEING YOUR home. You leave everything behind, your family, your friends, your livelihood, because your iman is under attack. You cross the seas, you walk into an unknown land, hoping only for safety and freedom to worship Allah.  This was the reality of the early Muslims who migrated to Abyssinia. They had escaped the persecution of … Continue reading Standing Firm: Lessons from the Muslims of Abyssinia

DO YOU SEE the world only as it is, or do you also see it as it should be? There is an incident from the seerah that struck me deeply when I first came across it many years ago. It took place in the early days of Makkah, when the believers were few and facing … Continue reading Seeing the World as It Is, and as It Should Be

THE QUESTION AFTER yesterday’s budget announcement is simple: who actually benefited from it? The answer is clear. Most people in Britain did not. They continue to face rising taxes in various forms while public services decline. The impact of this budget touches every part of the country, including the Muslim community. From the many discussions … Continue reading Wealth for the Few, Struggle for the Many

CONTINUING FROM OUR discussion about identity, I asked my daughter: Don’t we sometimes act as though we have different identities depending on whether we’re around Muslims or non-Muslims?  For example, with Muslims, we say Bismillah, inshaAllah, alhamdulillah, and so on. But we rarely use these expressions in front of non-Muslims.  But why is that?  The … Continue reading Do We Have a “Muslim Switch”?

MID TO LATE autumn is always a busy time in the garden. The trees stand almost bare now. Their last leaves drift down, joining the golden mounds scattered across the lawn. I rake them up and add them to the compost heap, recycling at its finest. The herbaceous perennials that lit up the summer now … Continue reading Simple Pleasures: Autumn Gardening

WITH MY OLDER son at university and my youngest too young to talk, my daughter gets my full attention during the forty-minute school runs, twice a day. These drives are our special time, where conversations flow unexpectedly. Sometimes she talks, sometimes I do, but more often, we just share our thoughts together. Lately, I’ve noticed … Continue reading Rooted in Islam: Having a Consistent Identity

THE MESSENGER ﷺ SAID: “Take up good deeds only as much as you are able, for the best deeds are those done regularly, even if they are few.” (Ahmad) This teaches us two simple but powerful lessons: set goals you can sustain, and stay consistent. One practical approach is the “unbroken chain.” Choose a small, … Continue reading Start Small, Stay Steady: The Sunnah of Sustainable Growth

SOMETIMES I CAN’T help but feel that parents, especially those of South Asian backgrounds, see their role primarily as providers of their children’s rizq (sustenance).  We spend our lives in pursuit of provision. We toil day and night, often sacrificing our own growth, our own spiritual nourishment, and even our own joy. We save relentlessly, … Continue reading Raising Inheritors of Iman, Not Just Inheritors of Wealth

THE EYES HAVE been closed. The body washed and shrouded. The janaza is complete. The funeral procession led us to where we will all go one day- the grave. The return to earth. The dua. The deceased has started a new journey. Whilst we returned home. If the departed could talk to us, what would … Continue reading For Those Left Behind: How the Living Can Benefit the Deceased