What we had won
We almost lost
Democracy we gained
Three centuries past
Almost slipped
Through the faults
The Day I Became a Mother
This morning Saqib, my firstborn, sent me flowers for Mother’s Day. My thoughts went back to the day he was born. I went through my treasure chest and found the letter I had written to my mother in Pakistan when I had been a mother for just 4 days, telling her what it felt like to become a mom, to give birth far away from home
Read moreLove Letter to Omar
I remember the day you were born. My first grandchild. What a novelty! You were beautiful and cuddly. At age one, you were a happy child. At two, you were witty, expressive and as loving as a two-year-old could be. At three, you changed. The doctor said it was autism.
Read moreRamadan During Retirement
I started fasting in my teens. As I approach seventy, I have experienced fasting during exams, raising children, working full-time, and now in retirement. This has to be the easiest phase of my fasting career. A lot changes when one is no longer on active duty.
Read moreRamadan In The Age of COVID: A Personal Snapshot
Read my piece in the New York Daily News, published on April 22, 2021
Read moreWhere Did I Come From?
If you were an adopted child, you would have wondered about it. Probably still are.
Read moreIf I Were President
Muslim women heads of state in Tanzania, Bangladesh, and Singapore
Not me. My granddaughters.
March 27 was Muslim Women’s Day. I posed this question to my three granddaughters:
If you were the first Muslim woman president of the US, what would you….?
Repairing Our World Together
This year the Jewish festival of Passover will be celebrated from March 27th through April 4th; and on April 13, Muslims will begin the fasting month of Ramadan. This circumstance occurs only once in three decades, attributable to Muslims following the lunar cycle. As our calendars get populated with interfaith Seders and iftars. . . .
Read moreDaylight Confusing Time
“On Sunday the time will change,” my husband Khalid said.
I had been in the US only four months.
Time will change. A cosmic shift?
Staying in Love
“I can’t live without you,” I called my husband.
“What happened?” he asked, knowing that this was not a romantic Valentine’s Day thing.
“The printer jammed.” “Oh!” He chuckled. But printer aside, that is the truth.