Human Mp3: How I quit music& learned Quran through mind-numbing commute time!
Once upon a time…Cockroach!
Dysautonomia and Me
Whether you want it or not, habibti. Cuz I didn’t want it but I got it anyway!
Questions?
AssalamuAlaikum people who are still here and haven’t died of boredom yet! October is Dysautonomia awareness month, and my next vlog will be about … drumroll please… Dysautonomia. So, any questions? Apart from “what the heck is that?” I’ll answer them InshaAllah as best as…
How’s Texas?
First Vlog: Headfirst into Imperfection
Following two months of zero update and almost a year of chronic hand pain, I’ve finally decided to start video blogging, even if the result is less than perfect. Perfection belongs to Allah alone. Yes, that is my excuse.
Cleaning House
So it’s crunch time. The house is being packed and sorted into a bazillion little piles, all bound in invisible string and tied directly to my heart. Every time a little pile- Khalid’s first artworks, Iman’s first story, Musfira’s baby blanket- fails to make the…
Elegant Mashups: Sword Song
So my brilliant writerly friends (who let me hang out with them sometimes) play a game in which we take two books, pick a sentence from each at random, and then attempt to connect the two in some semblance of sense. It is a tremendously challenging exercise…
الوالي Al- Wali, The Protecting Friend
Ya Wali, as we move to a new country with new people, where we will find both new friends new enemies, please be the Protecting Friend of my children. If my children face bullies, please protect their little hearts and bodies. If my children face loneliness…
30 Days, 30 Duas.
I have yet to, in my life, manage to post continuously for a thirty day stretch, but in the followup of an inspirational and much-needed pre-Ramadan meeting with my awesome circle of friends, I will now try. How many of Allah’s names do you know?…
Ramadan Craft: Ikea Fanoos
So in parts of the world other than America (where I grew up) there is a Ramadan tradition of lighting and decorating with Fanoos, or lamps. In parts of the world, like America (where I grew up) there is a tradition of crafting things for…
When Nineveh Met Taif: Gems from Ilmfest
It was a sad day in Ninevah. The Prophet Yunus, peace be upon him, was leaving. Angry, frustrated, and unable to continue what felt like a hopeless endeavor, he boarded the first ship out of town, leaving his homeland behind. He had tried and tried…
News
I’ve got news and you get to decide which category you want to put it in. See, if you live in Dubai, then you’ll consider that we’re moving to be bad news. If you live in Dallas though, then you’ll think it’s pretty good news,…
April is autism awareness month!
Alhamdulillah, very excited to be on the GreedforIlm podcast for World Autism Day talking social stigma in the Muslim community and spiritual coping for special needs parents. 🙂
Insert Angst Here
Certain blog posts are composed entirely of angst. This will be one of them. And now, in alphabetical order, I present to you the causes of my angst. Arthritis: My everything hurts. But it stopped hurting when I started meds for the arthritis. But then…
Look, an update!
Hey, we’re blogging again! See? I hope you like minecraft, because we sure do.
Raining
It’s raining, it’s pouring- the engines are roaring! On the roads of Dubai, the cars try to fly Then they slip and they slide into crawling. So I’m getting ready to leave for my morning meetings, but I’m doing so by staring at Google Maps and…
MashaAllah, Musfira.
So MashaAllah, Musfira is getting taller, cheekier, and slightly wiser every day. She has taken to gently correcting me and educating me throughout my day, sharing the wisdom of her many years – all three and a half of them – and the result is…
Whee?
There’s this thing in writing where you just make yourself write non-stop for a certain amount of time without the pressure of a desired outcome of the expectation of making any sense. I call it blogging. 😉 So I’m going to be on the radio…
So I did actually update
It just wasn’t here. 🙂 Read it here
My brain is out of shape.
Some people say writing is an art. That’s because they’re silly. Writing is a sport actually- it’s like exercise for parts of your brain that otherwise go soft and floppy without creative stimulation. The less you write, the weaker your writing muscles become. Eventually they…
Oops.
Broke my blog layout. Again. Hehe. I’ll get it figured out, InshaAllah. Until then, sorry!
The catch-up game!
AssalamuAlaikum Blogistan! So this is where I answer all of the shorter questions that were left last time. Some of you had longer and significantly more important questions, and InshaAllah those will be answered separately. But here we go: Sumaiyah September 8, 2014 at…
In a nutshell. In Chicago.
AssalamuAlaikum from Chicago! Did I mention I’m in Chicago? Right, sorry. So, as part of the unexpected life changes in our lives we’re in Chicago at the moment. Don’t worry, I still live in Dubai, but we’re here to see an Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome specialist, and…
First Come, First Served; Rubina!
What is your schedule like? I have a 7 month old now, any suggestions on how to be a calm parent, how to give the right tarbiyat, how to incline them towards Islam and the spicy Desi food. – Rubina AssalamuAlaikum Rubina. 🙂 Children are…
Ask me something. Please.
So, until I can get my head around the new and exciting challenges in my life and blog about it, let’s think of something to do while we’re waiting! I’m not very good at writing sometimes, but I can answer questions like a boss. Seeing as…
Silence is Golden
So I haven’t updated in a while. I understand that, for people who don’t follow me on twitter, that could mean that I’ve gone and died. Fair enough. My twitter handle is @zebasez. In case you want to see if I haven’t died yet. I’ve…
No Hands
The Husbandtrolls
Me: Did you know that Muslims killed Dracula? HF: That makes sense, Muslims hate fun. Me: That’s the title of the lecture, don’t you remember? HF: “Don’t You Remember?” That’s a terrible title for a lecture. *trollface* :p
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
As part of our homeschooling exercises, I give Khalid written questions to answer about stories we’ve read. This was his terse, and entirely pragmatic response to the epic tale of Peter Rabbit. 🙂 Who is Peter Rabbit? He was the rabbit who robbed Mr.McGregor’s garden.…
The lion sleeps
The Four Quls
Update on the Owl
So if there were ever any doubts that Owl is a dramatic, attention-seeking medical diva- allow me to lay them to rest. On July 1 she went in for her CT Angio. This is where they injected a radioactive dye into her brains to see how…
Past and Present Tense
It Auschwitz it dripped
In Palestine in drips
From flesh it freshly flows
From the body as it rips
Are we there yet?
Seven months ago my lil sister of DeGrouchyOwl fame was diagnosed with a time bomb in her head, AKA an inter cranial aneurysm. In her brain. Yeah. Really. I know right. How rude. Here I am being all dramatic and in mortal medical danger and…
Dubai vs. Bed Bugs- FIGHT!
I dedicate this post to a friend, whose current state of perpetual war against invisible blood-sucking enemies not only qualifies her as a vampire-huntress, but also takes me back to the good ole days when I too had… bedbugs. It was the year 2009, and…
Meh.
I am officially taking my blog back. From whom, you may ask. From myself. Because one part of me took my blog and claimed it in the name of Writing, while another part of me was like Hey, I was using that for catharsis! What…
Stick and Stones May Break My Bones.
Bones will heal and bruises fade
But time can’t heal the hurt words made.
There are no stitches for stupid bitches,
Lazy brats, you big retard
(no person’s hand could hit as hard)
Inquiring minds want to know
Someone asked me about Musfira. Here you go. She’s almost three. She has the tiniest, adorablest, most comically novelty-sized bottom. MashaAllah. Last week she painted her hair pink. That was… fun. She got into some makeup and did a fairly decent job. I wasn’t even…