Fig & Olive

Tall teenage boys are asked if they play basketball. Tall slender women are told they should model. People with different body types are assumed to be different types of people. These assumptions imprint on us ideas about who we are and who we should be. Some ideas are harmless, others simply annoying, and still others […]

As a linguistic student of Arabic, I recently learned that women and men are not opposite so much as they are complementary. The idea that one could feel opposite from one’s biological gender is actually nonsensical, linguistically and in reality. Men and women are different, but not so categorically that one can feel as though he or […]

If you’re like me, which you might be considering you’re reading this blog. You spend a lot of time “up there”. You know, up in the sky where the birds live —have you ever noticed that? When I’m deep in reflection I find my head moving upwards towards the sun. We spend a lot of […]

Woman in long sleeve ankle length body-con dress —Quranic reminders —Family photos of a friend you’ve never met —motivational quote —Islamic event this Saturday! If Neil Postman, author of Amusing Ourselves to Death, thought TV was bizarre —“We’ll be back with a quick look a molestation,” a quote he pulled from a Daytime talk show […]

Many will suggest writing a list of “must-haves,” “nice-to-haves,” and deal breakers when looking to get married. While this may be good advice from a practical standpoint I think it’s also important that we also tell a story of how we’d like our marriage to look, the texture and feel of our day-to-day shared existence […]

We often get it confused. We fear empathy because we fear it will move us to incorrect action. We assume that if we empathize with the ‘abuser’ our pity will overwhelm us and cause us to have mercy on him in his actions. But the ‘why’ never has to affect our ’what’ though it can […]

This is the post I wanted to post in December 2019 but I started to doubt myself and wonder if a true goodbye is necessary for this little blog. Whether it is or isn’t I’ve decided to share it anyway. Thank you, out there, for your support over the years. I am eternally grateful. Original […]

Maybe because I often buy into a “rugged individualism” approach to life I’ve found it hard to completely comprehend what people mean when they say it’s hard to get married. I know that our culture doesn’t make it easy to get married but it is, after all, our culture and everyone born into it knows that there will likely be […]

Some years ago, while I was studying at Azhar, a young sister wanting to practice her faith asked me to clarify the spiritual dimensions of modesty. This was my reply. Alhamdulillah, I believe it had a great impact on her back then, so I want to share it so you could also benefit insha Allah.  […]

Nation’s Impact Needless to say, the heyday of the Nation of Islam was before my time. My parents weren’t involved in the Nation and it was never a part of my religious upbringing. Nevertheless, its impact is still felt in the black Muslim community and the larger black community. Malcolm X was and is a […]