The Best of Baraka

If I do say so myself.

February 2003

Morphine What happens when you get married, move cross country, start a new job, & suddenly wake up one day unable to walk?

March 2005

Dhikr Beach Hanging with a bunch of Muzzies on a Tahoe beach. Doesn't get much better than this.

April 2005

My Right Foot How to be more like that tree there.

June 2005

Who Are you in Your Secret Heart? I think I'm devilish but the angel keeps getting the best of me. Rats.

Alien Babies Babies are super weird. Don't tell anyone I said that.

Memories from the Future Setting out to look for God, only to find He was in my heart all along.

Beautiful Day Sometimes you're given a day that shines like a pearl. This is one of them.

July 2005

True Romance What do Don Juan, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, & Bani Adam have in common? Halal pepperoni pizza.

Of Dragonflies, Sunshine, & Eucalyptus Groves Another jewel of a day. This time with Cheb Khaled.

Im/Export Why must Muslim women look so different from Muslim men?

August 2005

To Catch a Dragonfly Ode to my Mama.

Tales of a Biotech Guinea Pig The funny side of being in a medical research study.

September 2005

Shakespeare in Kabul The relevance of literature and madness of literalism.

What Does Brown Mean to You? Uncleji decides to make an honest woman out of me at ISNA.

Rent-a-Guest Pureland weddings, AKA, why you must invite everyone you know (or bumped into on the street this morning) to your child's wedding.

Lotah Stories The drama of public washing of the privates.

Gratitude Shukr, baby!

October 2005 (A busy month, largely because I was cooped up in the hospital with nothing to do but reflect & write)

Drink Me If your loved one was a drink, what would s/he be?

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Baraka Can't walk, but still flying.

Imaginary Homelands Reflections on home in the aftermath of an earthquake that might leave mine demolished.

Finally, a Room with a View Catmeditation.

A Sudden Burst of Green An encounter with the wild green parrots of TMBCE and how we barely escaped with our lives.

Blood & Sugar George Clooney hand-feeds me dessert.

Cheveux Hairy Purelander women exposé!

Veneer Sometimes you realize just how petty you really are. And that you're deeply blessed in spite of it.

November 2005

The Unbearable Lightness The summer I learned to swoon

Sunday Paper A very short poem

Eid Dinner with the Other A rather scandalous Eid dinner with Hindu friends

Belief What makes your faith clock tick?

December 2005

Intersections An exploration of my growing disability

The Road Taken Celebrating our engagement anniversary

January 2006

Fragrance Perfumes bring loved ones & memories vividly back to life.

Testing Converts Why not welcome converts to our community instead?

Delicious Desi Aunties An ode to voluptous icons triggered by increasingly skinny desi "blondes"

February 2006

The Cord of Love Finding a deeper meaning in illness

Merry-go-round Taking a look at anti-Semitic European language and imagery in its new form of free speech against Muslims

Reclaiming 'Ashura Spiritual bridge-building during a month sacred to both Shii and Sunni Muslims.

Flowering Talking to Hans Ucko about European secularism and interfaith dialogue.

'Ashura Reflections Finding comfort in history when feeling attacked and misunderstood due to the cartoon controversy.

Young, Upwardly Mobile Black Magic Woman (YUM-BMW) The rise of black magic amongst middle- and upper-class Pakistanis.

Progressive Faith Blog Carnival I was the proud host of the sixth carnival, which happened, fortuitously, two weeks after the cartoon controversy exploded.

V-Day A humorous Valentine's day rant.

Of Piglets and Love Hounds Even the lowliest of creature's have something to teach us about God's grace.

Pop a Wheelie Remembering the first time I used a wheelchair and the joy it brought my two-year old niece.

March 2006

Wafadar (Faithful) No Longer Using the latest "Muslim reformist" media darling Wafa Sultan as a model, I explore mainstream media techniques in portraying Muslims.

Polygyny/Polygamy HBO debuts "Big Love" and raises the question: Would you ever accept polygamy in your life?

Soulshapes What does your soul look like?

An Impossible Rose in the Night Recollecting a haunting dream.

Puberty Going through it for the second time at 33 ain't easy.

Thoughts on Deepa Mehta's "Water" Exploring the similarity between Hindu widows and divorced Purelander Muslim women.

Standing on the cliffs of patriarchy I'm a practicing Muslim and believe deeply in the Qur'an and Sunnah - but I've also seen how these have been mangled by interpretation and implementation into something my conscience and heart utterly rejects.

April 2006

Fitness Exploring cultural and social aspects that influence Muslim women to be less than physically fit.

God & the Single Girl Watching the moment of transformation - when the worm turns into a righteous angel.

Farewell Basil gets a new job and I look back at the community we experienced at the Islamic institute he is now leaving.

June 2006

Beloved Children - they break your hearts open and leave you utterly vulnerable.

Choosing Islam Until I was 19, I had an emotional attachment to Islam but no real understanding of it intellectually. I followed it unthinkingly and because I was desperately afraid of going to hell.

Crossroads In Freeland, we live at the center of a colorful, confusing, huge crossroads everyday. In a homogenous society it's easy to proclaim your version of the Truth as the only valid path. In a pluralistic society like ours, things get trickier.

Reinterpreting the Past Faith is no easy matter. There will be things that we do not understand and there will be doubts, but it's how we address those doubts that counts.

July 2006

Thoughts before Chemotherapy People tell me it's odd that I consider this illness a blessing. But through it I have become more humble, grateful, content, and attuned to the joyous beauty God has created. So much time have I wasted stupidly mired in day-to-day frustrations, quibbling, and stress.

Between Heaven & Earth At night, blackness descends, afire with more stars than I remembered existed, those that are usually obscured by city lights. Silence stretches in every direction, popping the eardrums, freeing the soul to rise up and expand into the vastness.

August 2006

Birthday Chemo A birthday spent in mindful preparation for chemotherapy.

Shoe Fetish The beginning of an obsession.

Recipe: Caterpillars and Deep-Fried Basil Bringing Basil Jr home.

Seeds of Hope, Seeds of Genocide It becomes acceptable to marginalize, blame, and spew hatred at a certain group... and then, slowly, it becomes "necessary" to hurt or kill them.

The Search for Beauty in Islam As Muslims, we've forgotten Islam's diverse and nuanced beauty.

Happy Birthday, Pureland Reflecting on what it means to be far away from home on Pureland's 59th independence day.

Union The kind of love that bestows mercy, dignity, and tranquility upon both partners isn't one that is spoken about much these days - and yet it is vital to nourishing marital togetherness.

The Pakistan Connection Nineteen hours on a trans-Atlantic flight without moisturizer? I don't stand a chance.

September 2006

Curiously Disappearing News Looking at the mainstream media's penchant for leaving out important details when it comes to stories about Islam and Muslims.

Divinity in the Details A photography retreat in Big Sur teaches me that a grand sweep of landscape can strike awe into our hearts but it is by looking closer and deeper at the exquisite details and nuance that we begin to grasp the infinite depths of God.

Have you heard the one about the Imam and the Pope? Much-needed comic relief after "Popegate."

Pope Benedict, Muslims, and the Challenges of Ecumenism The controversy over the Pope's comments on Islam proves just how perilously fragile interfaith communication can be.

Fasting and Feasting: A Sacred Confluence A flowing together of events this lunar month brings Ramadan and the other religions' high holy days into being at the same time, presenting the opportunity for religious leaders and communities to honor shared spiritual principles.

October 2006

Ramadan Thoughts on Creating Intimacy with God It is when we reach out and acknowledge our need of God that we first begin to develop a more intimate relationship with Him.

Turning Homewards Going home for Ramadan, I was reminded that while memories and reality often differ, our spiritual home never changes.

The Opening Al-Fatiha and the smell of the first raindrops mixed with the dust, open one's senses to the Divine.

Class & Religion Confronted by obvious class differences while in Pureland.

Bypassing Begumhood Reflecting on what could have been my life as a Purelandi "Lady of Leisure."

A Lahori Eid In celebrating and fulfilling our responsibilities to, and serving, family and community - we realize the full meaning of a feast day, and of life itself.

Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience The Mirpuris and I have something in common: In some ways we are poignant relics, suspended between two worlds: a home that is not, and a place that can never truly be home.

November 2006

Physical Servitude and Spiritual Poverty With their patchwork clothing and simple ways, how many of us would sit down to dinner with the Prophets Jesus and Muhammad today?

Beyond Parental Sin As we grow up we judge our parents. If we're lucky, we forgive them.

Circles of Women Smudging the lines between the political and personal to appreciate the lessons learned at the feet of women.

Magic Khalas Celebrating my magical aunt.

Solitude & Sanitary Pads The sadness of leaving one home to return to the other.

A Muslim Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is an opportunity for reflection, renewal, and new beginnings - characteristics which make it accessible to us all, regardless of our faith or ethnicity.-

Speak Now Don't wait to speak your love - reach out now, before it's too late.

December 2006

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