Harbouring Hobbies.

My article for the Muslimah Bloggers.

Holiday

It’s not just your name; a lot of things, if not everything, change when you get married. Sometimes even as much as your whole outlook on life, your idea about yourself, your priorities, your dreams, your goals, your career aspirations in addition to the change in relationships and circumstances and homes and lifestyles! Allah o Akbar.

And in the pursuits of settling in a new home, learning to live life with a new human being, even giving birth and nurturing more human beings, and all the mayhem marrying and the consequences of marrying bring, us women, somehow forget that once upon a time, we used to be our own idiosyncratic individuals ourselves. We used to don our own colors with pride and carried a soul wild with our passions and desires.

In raising families, many women often neglect the most important thing – taking care of themselves and pursing their own interests. Even if they had hobbies before, they think that now that they are married, they don’t have the time, the energy, the desire or even the need to have a hobby. Continue reading

Eid Mubarak!

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An Eid, two weddings and flying back to cayman in next 10 or so days and of course, two tiny tots to attend to, well, most of the times, means I am jam packed.

I always believed that two “C’s” Cooking & Crafting – are the best way to celebrate anything. But all the precious time before Eid was spent in shopping and Visiting friends & family. I should have planned better! so this Eid I would like to present an awesome & easy Eid Bunting made by an Incredibly creative person who fortunately happen to live with me, my sister-in-law Hafsa (aka honey). Continue reading

How to teach Preschoolers to use Bathrooms on Their Own

Guest post by Arron Hiddleston

Teaching a Preschoolers to use Bathrooms on Their Own

If anyone ever told you that raising children was easy, they probably weren’t speaking from experience. Parents love their children more than anything in the world, as they are the essence of our reality and a part of our very soul. But children can cause us plenty of stress as well, can’t they? All of those visits to the doctor, taking their shots, moaning and sobbing over every little thing, it’s what the kids so after all. The only thing we can do is to keep them occupied most of the times. We can do some Letter crafts to teach them as well as provide them some activities as well.  Continue reading

Summers in Pakistan

Originally published at youth club in summers of 2013.

Being in the luxury of 24/7 air conditioning at Cayman Islands had me believing that I deserve it. And Four years later when I had to endure the Summers of Pakistan again, it saw me sweating and angry and complaining.

The following is an old article I wrote when I was a happy and perhaps much more patient person. Re-reading it was such a reality check for myself first and I thought it has the potential to inspire others to rethink the stereotype of heat and summers as well.

It was written in the background of Ramadan about to set in, and today when we had just bade farewell to Ramadan it still feels relevant. Please read on:

Continue reading

Kindness to Animals.

My article originally published at Youth club Blog.

Islam encourages kindness to not only fellow human beings but also other living creatures. We are told:

“Verily, Allah is Kind and He loves kindness” (Muslim)

Kindness should be shown to all of Allah’s creatures specially animals because they can not complain back to you about their problems, they are powerless in many ways.

We encounter animals in our daily lives, sometimes we have pets, oftentimes we deal with astray or wild animals and then we have animals for Baqra Eid.

Below are a few easy steps to show kindness and mercy to animals. Continue reading

Rain Rain please stay!

Originally posted at Muslimah Bloggers.

After a long spell of drought, last week clouds finally gathered and the rain washed up the Cayman Islands. The sight of gray clouds was sheer joy and clanks of pitter-patter were like music to the ears.

The whole ambiance was purified and rejuvenated by the water. The dirt vanished from the air, small puddles appeared, the grass lit up to the brightest hue of green, the breeze became fresh and fragrant, the water from the nearby pool over-flew, the chicken sought refuge beneath the palm trees which were swaying in delight and the lake – in front of our apartment- turned milky-white because of the rain.

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Last year the island received its record lowest rainfall in 60 years times, so this change in climate was happily welcomed by most of the people. Like Quran rightly says:

And it is He who sends down rain after [men] have lost all hope, and unfolds His grace [thereby] for He alone is [their] protector, the One to whom all praise is due. (42:28) Continue reading

The sun in our lives. (Part 1)

Few weeks ago I was listening to this lecture by Mufti Menk and he mentioned something extra ordinary about Ayah 4 from Surah Yousuf.

إِذْ قَالَ يُوسُفُ لِأَبِيهِ يَا أَبَتِ إِنِّي رَأَيْتُ أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوْكَبًا وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ رَأَيْتُهُمْ لِي سَاجِدِينَ

[Of these stories mention] when Joseph said to his father, “O my father, indeed I have seen [in a dream] eleven stars and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrating to me.”

The Holy Quran has remarkable depths, it has Layers upon layers of meanings and even in the parables it draws, it has details and food for thought. Continue reading

Healing a Broken heart.

I am a woman, a wife, a mommy and a human being. And that being said I proved I have survived heart aches.2781bec9b54da09c878a245200b9156b

Years ago when I first realized that there is something missing in my heart, a strange feeling of being incomplete, a craving of being loved despite the flaws and shortcomings I have – I thought this is the sign of my coming to age, my time to look for a potential mate. Continue reading