Fig & Olive

The following series on Free Will is a slightly edited version of my lecture at Rutgers University Annual Conference, Road to Revival 2019. Everything is created by and under the dominion of God. And that’s the first thing we have to understand in order to understand the will of God. Secondly, we must understand that […]

“Cover your hair when you pray,” I’ve wanted to say these six words to women many times over the years but with a small sigh of despair, I often do not. We all have various levels of modesty at different times in our life. Especially in the West, it can often be difficult to maintain […]

Focus on what’s essential and eliminate everything else -Greg Mckeown, Essentialism When I was in my early twenties and “discovered” the internet, a world of possibilities opened up to me. I taught myself how to create a WordPress website, I learned how to design flyers, I even learned a bit of code. I blogged, created a magazine, […]

Deep Minimalism: The idea that too much of anything is a bad idea. Whether it’s too much food, too many clothes, too much scrolling, overconsumption is a distraction from ourselves and our Lord. I’ve been practicing intermittent fasting of late. Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you deliberately fast from eating for a period […]

Traditional marriages where men are the primary breadwinners and women are homemakers are largely a pipe dream for African American women, or so I’ve been told. When I’ve discussed the issue of men being financial caretakers of women I’m often met with at least one man who tells me this idea is impossible for black […]

“Khadija was a tradeswoman of honor and wealth. She used to hire men to carry out her trade based on profit-sharing, as Quraysh were a people of commerce” (Seerah of Ibn Hisham). Upon learning of the prophet’s character she offered him a proposal to work for her in the same manner. Muslims utilize Khadija’s position […]

I have to say that for a while I was of the “you don’t have to change your name when you become Muslim” camp —which is technically true. You do not have to take on a “Muslim name” when you convert to Islam but my reasons expanded beyond this reality. My dad named his three eldest […]

The problem with forgoing rights is that you still know they belong to you, you may forgo them if everything is good but once there’s a crack in other areas that rocky foundation starts to fall apart. A friend may not ask you for the money they loaned you but if you go too long […]

I’ve been on the slow of path minimalism —a concept I believe to be similar to the Islamic concept of zuhud, for a few years now. Stories of Sufis like Rabia Al Adawi and her possession of a single bowl and comb, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his straw mat for […]

We find ourselves in discussions about modernity and re-interpreting Islam for our times. Christianity has had no problem doing this over the years, of course, ‘re-interpret’ is a misnomer for ‘ignore the sacred text’ but nevertheless churches have successfully become modernized places turning a blind eye to or supporting Zina, immodesty, homosexuality and the like. […]