Fig & Olive

“Only God can judge me” is often said flippantly as a way to discourage judgment from others, nevertheless, it is true. We know that in Islam, as my teacher once said, “We judge by what’s apparent”. Yet “what’s apparent” is also all we can judge by. We don’t have insight into a person’s heart, we […]

Of late, I keep recalling these varied moments from other places. The times I waited for a taxi in Marrakech, hands filled with groceries. I should have kept it simple, dived into the culture around me, and shopped at the local grocery store—what we’d call a bodega back in Brooklyn. Brooklyn, the place where I […]

The ancient Egyptians of Musa’s time dealt heavily in magic. Magicians were of the most prominent people in society and when Pharaoh wanted to defeat Musa, peace be upon him, he called on the top magicians to do so. The job of a magician is to fool people. The best of magicians do so seamlessly […]

We suffer because we lack distraction. Healing is important, working on childhood wounds is crucial, and setting boundaries is valuable. But the occupation with the self and being exactly right in order to face the world is also simply a consequence of having no distractions. Real distractions, not the distractions that flicker across our screens […]

Something I’ve wondered for about 20+ years; are loner’s better off in the age of social media? While the idea of the ‘lone genius’ may be a way to neaten historical realities instead of an absolute truth—as James Bridle states in his book A New Dark Age, “the lie to the heroic narrative of history — […]

Women’s dislike of polygyny is similar to men’s resistance to their role as providers. As I discussed in this post women don’t have any power to stop a man from marrying again. That is, polygamy (restricted conditional polygyny as dictated by Islam) is 100% the domain of a man to choose to engage in, or […]

Amongst the condemnations, calls for resignations, and numerous accusations, one sentiment is seldom present; we have to pray for our leaders. Leaders have power over their people, many of whom are vulnerable or at the very least have given a portion of themselves over to them. They have said, “we see your success in this […]

Let’s discuss black women’s complicated relationship with natural hair… does hijab help?

A while back I came across two stories that served as shining examples of the failings of ‘choice Feminism’. ‘Choice Feminism’ may not be a term we’re all familiar with but its basic premise is one society holds onto most fervently. The basic idea is that whatever a woman chooses is empowering, that Feminism/women’s empowerment […]

I always thought it was a fact that Eve was made from Adam’s rib. In ‘religious talk’ that would mean it was agreed upon (by scholars) or that there was something directly from Hadith or Quran we could point to and say, “Eve was created from Adam’s rib”. But, no —at least, not exactly. There is and […]