Its Easter Sunday, and we are babysitting.
My phone beeps.
“Just arrived in Rome. How are things?” A text from our son Saqib.
American Muslim Identity
As my children entered their teens, I noticed that they and their friends were expressing Islam in a manner that was quite different from their parents. A rather sensible version.
Read more3 PROMPTS: What To Write In 10 Minutes
“They had planned their Valentines Day dinner for weeks. It was their first anniversary. She waited at the restaurant. One hour in, still no sight of him.”
Read moreBells & Whistles
Daddy and I
Are we like our parents in our behavior today? My mother was a neat freak. My father was a military man.
Put the two together and you can figure out the rest.
UN-OPPRESSED
Are Pakistani women oppressed?
Yes? No?
Maybe some? Maybe most?
Today is International Women’s Day, and I am celebrating. Whom do I celebrate? Gloria Steinem, Meryl Streep, Malala Yusufzai…ahaaa! I will start with the land of my birth—Pakistan.
Can Sexual Harrassment Be Nipped Before It Buds?
Raise your hands if you watched Anita Hill testify at the Senate confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas.
Raise your hands if you did NOT believe her story then.
Raise your hands if you believe her now.
Now a confession. I did watch the hearings; and I didn’t know what to believe.
Does that make me part of the problem?
I Felt Ashamed
T’was the Third Sunday in Advent, and I, a Muslim woman, had been given a place of honor at The Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew in New York City. Every year, the pastor invites me to participate in services, and read passages from the Quran from the chapter of Mary. But this year was different.
Read moreA Hologram For A Visitor
I asked him, ‘How did you pass your time living in the attic for two years?’ The moderator pushed a button on the console and repeated the question...This wasn’t the first time Khalid and I had talked to a holocaust survivor, but this was the first time that he wasn’t there in flesh and blood. We were having a conversation with a hologram.
Read moreNot A Terrorist, Just A Rabbi
The Rabbi was preparing to deliver his sermon for Rosh Hashanah. As he put his things together, leaders from all over the world were congregating only blocks away from his apartment, also getting ready to deliver their speeches at the United Nations. The Rabbi got his things in a bag—his sermon, and the shofar, which he would blow at the synagogue
Read moreI Touched An Untouchable
“Why are you an Untouchable?” I asked Sujatha Gidla, panelist and author at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Petite, deep brown skin, jet-black hair pulled back in a pony tail with a stray curl adorning her sweet face, Sujatha of Indian descent (as in India), shared the panel with Pulitzer Prize winner, Hisham Matar.
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