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.-
December 2006
Eik Savaal ka Jawaab Blame it on the Hindoos.
Of Mountains & Molehills Comments galore on an Indian condom study prove that, to some people, size really does matter
Masala Chocolates Waxing rhapsodic on the South Asian penchant for odd flavors
Muslim Women take Center Stage Muslim women hold the keys to Ummah change
Speak Now Don’t wait to speak your love - reach out now, before it’s too late.
January 2007
Pilgrimage to Ground Zero A Muslim woman in NYC, four and a half years after 9/11
A River Runs Through It A Zen master story
The Gratitude Challenge Dealing with negativity as I creep my way back to health
Touch Beyond PDA
February 2007
Fresh Basil How can one eat a plant one talks to?
Reflections Yearning for something the soul remembers
Painting What do you see in Laila Shawa’s painting?
Hospital Humor Farting roommates and the gratitude challenge
Only Connect The trepidation of meeting a reader in real life
The Dammed Heart Sorrow and distance from loved ones threaten to break the dam
Post V-Day Thoughts Sharing the love beyond one’s spouse
Muslims & Science Where do Muslims stand on evolution?
March 2007
On Birthdays & Growing Older The unexpected vulnerability of aging and memory
Under the mask Deconstructing the impact of foreign aid and development in Pakistan
April 2007
The 8th Carnival of Islam in the West A spectacular collection of entries and thought spanning the breadth of Blogistan just before I went on hiatus
September 2007
Volver - To Return Reflecting on the ultimate return that we must all make
Ramadan Unplugged Making room for God
Hitting the Wall During Ramadan
October 2007
Ultrabrown On desi racism
North American Human-Pigeon Love Association (NAHPLA) Dealing with the winged messengers of SF
The Friday of Farewell The last Friday of Ramadan
On the Former Anonymity of Being a Paki Yet another cover story with Raging Mozelms (TM) makes me recall pleasant days when I was from Paxton, not Pakistan
I am a human tikka A newfound sympathy with skewered chickens after a botched spinal tap
SF Snapshots Tales of my beloved city
November 2007
Chemotherapy Limbo Rituxan interruptus
Darkness, My Old Friend Admitting depression and spiritual distances
Resetting the Timer Thoughts on having an exacerbation again after two years
The Second Husband There have been three of us in this marriage since day one
Facebook and other addictions Social networking and friends angst
Facebook Drama, Part 2 Basil creates a quiz to rate your Desi Mama
December 2007
On Authentic Prayer The struggle to be present during daily prayers
Atonement A meditation sparked by the film and by Eid ul-Adha on the power and responsibility of one’s words
Informed Consent In the eyes of many, a child is more capable of dealing with a fully physical, adult relationship with all its attendant emotions and responsibilities at 13, than a Muslim woman of any age is to make decisions about who gets to see her body, when, and how.
The Assassination of Benazir/The Death of Dado Pakistan’s former Prime Minister is assassinated just three hours before my paternal grandmother, my last living grandparent, passes away.
Keep on Keeping On The MSM may portray Pakistan as a failed state and Benazir as its murdered messiah, but Pakistanis at home and abroad know better.
January 2008
That Girl I love making fun of desi girls. Until I found one living in my closet.
Halaqa Hilarity Shaykh Jagger makes an appearance at my weekly halaqa - hilarity ensues
The Death of Languages Exploring the disconnect of being in a marriage without Urdu
Begum Moment Without Iqbal, this kitchen is a minefield
The Perils of Blind Obedience The civil rights connections between the Ahmadis of Pakistan and the Muslims of America
A Silence in which Another Voice may Speak When prayer becomes listening instead of talking
Coming out for Obama A delicious Obama cake at a primary wonkfest, along with that rare feeling in the political process: hope
Mother Tongue A short story about a girl spying on her mother, and the outcome
Not Quite What I was Planning My six-word memoir
Fragile My best friend suffers a nervous breakdown
Puppy Love I have so much to learn from the loyalty and love a dog shows his Master
March 2008
It’s Complicated My parents celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary and a very complicated relationship
How Do You Pray in Public? Bringing prayer into the secular work space
This Old Shoe Could Islamic organizations finally be willing to reach out to women who don’t wear the hijab?
Becoming Sahaba If I issued an old-fashioned barn raising, would the community come?
Flashes of Life Whose life will flash before your eyes at the end of your life? [Posted at other|matters]
Listen: there’s a hell of a good universe next door; let’s go Returning from Boston, Baraka reflects on places she has called home [Posted at other|matters]
A Storm of Blossoms Spring flirts with San Francisco and a tree once again shows me how to be
April 2008
Why Baraka? The reason I use this pen-name
Necessity City sketch: Urban grit, homeless devils and angels, and a small paper bag full of necessities
Reason #21 One reason that I left Truth & Beauty
The Society of the Spectacle Basil & Baraka brave a desi wedding and find themselves surprised in some ways - until a run-in with…
Heart of Darkness Actions without compassion are meaningless [Posted at other|matters]
Size Matters Or so says five-foot-five-and-a-half Baraka
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