British Blogger, Desi Dreamer, Mad Muslimah
// February 27th, 2008 // 9 Comments » // Blog
After spotting several cheesy status messages on Facebook just now, reading: “Did the Earth move for you last night?” , I suddenly realised that the wobbly, side-to-side motion I experienced on the floor of my friend's room in the wee hours, was in fact an earthquake – and not just a passing tube train, as I originally thought!
// February 15th, 2008 // 5 Comments » // Blog
I was tagged by Sumi, but am not so happy about this meme, cos I am not really a book person (not interesting books, anyway).
The rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages)
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the 5th Sentence.
4. Post the next 3 sentences
5. Tag 5 people
I recently took advantage of an online book sale, and ordered some titles on writing, more specifically, on how to improve one's writing style. I started the first one this morning during my routine commute to the lab: “The Art of Punctuation”, by Noah Lukeman. Surprisingly, it's not as boring as it sounds! Though the following excerpt on quotation marks may be:
“Quotation marks are also unique in that they indicate the end of one world (prose) and the beginning of another (dialogue), and as such are one of the most powerful tools with which to propel content into the limelight. Indeed, to discuss quotation marks-their presence, absence, overuse, underuse-is to discuss dialogue itself. And their usage is not just limited to dialogue: they can offset individual words or phrases to indicate irony, sarcasm, or a special meaning.”
I'm not sure who to tag next; my brain hurts too much to think clearly right now. I'll update this later, but feel free to pick it up if you're interested.
// February 12th, 2008 // 15 Comments » // Blog
This MuslimMatters entry describing a recent exorcism got me thinking about the stigma attached to believing in the concept of evil spirits. Myths and legends about such beings are to be found in the folklore of communities all around the world; similarly, scepticism about their existence is also to be found globally, and perhaps more so in the technologically advanced societies of the West. Such scepticism is perhaps understandable for the atheists amongst us, but is a little worrying when it comes from Muslims, who by definition, should believe in the Qur'an completely, which makes many mention of the species of creation known as “jinn“.
// February 11th, 2008 // 8 Comments » // Blog
Why does it have to hit when you have a tonne of work to do? I'm feeling terribly “not bothered”, which is a 180 on how super-keen I have been acting all week. Maybe I just burned myself out… y'know, with all that key depression, and mouse clicking. Wow, hard work.
Actually, I did attend kickboxing class twice this week… allow me a Valley Girl moment to tell you how, like, totally awesome it is, yah! But I am sooooooo sore today. I've been hobbling around the house like an old lady; those stairs are killing me! Why did I have to live on the top floor? Owwweeeee…
// February 4th, 2008 // No Comments » // Blog
I just posted an entry on Ijtema.net; one of our “editor written” ones… we've been a bit slack in that department, lately, but inshā’Allāh we will improve! We look forward to your comments.
As Muslims, we believe in the power of prayer. That Allāh hears our silent whispers; our pain-filled cries. Night or day. In public or in private. He hears us, and He helps us.
But sometimes we forget. Not even out of a sense of despair, but rather, due to a misunderstanding of the manner in which prayers are answered. Sometimes, we expect it all to be very black and white: you pray for a promotion, you get the promotion. You pray for a child, you're granted a child.
But what happens when you don't get what you want?
// February 2nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Blog
Remember that show?
I talked about it quite a bit on MuslimMatters.
Well, to top it all off, I managed to wangle an interview with one of the “mentors”, Sr. Dawn Bates. She's a really nice gal, māshā’Allāh.
! Announcement !
