Fig & Olive

My nephew asked me a few days ago if his friends were going to heaven -his Christian friends, “I don’t know” was my answer. Then we got into some of the Aqidah and fiqh surrounding this issue. There is a disagreement between scholars about the issue but the two major opinions I’ve been taught is […]

First, let’s just face the fact that hijab may for eternity be a topic of discussion. As much as we may attempt to declare that it’s just a choice or just a scarf the questions surrounding hijab continue. Recently one of my Facebook friends who is somewhat of a public figure decided to take off […]

Home. It’s pretty simple when you’re a kid. At a certain point, you memorize your address. You know the food in the fridge. The signs on the door. Your neighbors. It’s not too complicated to know where home is. It’s a place your parents chose for you. But the older you get, the older I […]

The most perfect place I’ve ever been is in the neighborhood of Hayy Al Kharabsheh near Sheikh Nuh Ha Meem Keller. Not only do I love Sheikh Nuh but I love being in the company of the saliheen (righteous) and people striving to be righteous. Jordan itself reminded me of New York. Though the people […]

It just makes you want to sit down and be quiet There’s a freeing feeling that comes with it It heals you without knowing your illness It nurtures you without use of words It becomes a part of you as though it was never separated Maybe it is you Unadulterated Full Completely free of expectations […]

It recently dawned on me the state of indentured servitude many of us are in or will be in for a great deal of our lives. We take out huge loans to pay for school, we work to pay off that debt for years to come. In some ways, this isn’t such a big deal […]

I have never, even in the days when I listened to music religiously, been a fan of Beyoncé. I recognized she was extremely talented, watched her videos and bought one of her albums. But nothing about her, her message or lack thereof, caused me to be deeply invested. But the Beyoncé that seems to be […]

“If you disclose your Sadaqaat (almsgiving), it is well; but if you conceal them and give them to the poor, that is better for you.” [Quran 2:271] There are many reasons why a man like Prince should be remembered, if he did nothing but make the movie ‘Purple Rain’ and its accompanying album he would […]

I’m currently reading Four Arguments For The Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander and The Undiscovered Mind by John Horgan. The former I’ve read previously and the latter is a new discovery. Jerry Mander makes the point of his book quite clear. Before I began re-reading it -I first read it about two years ago, […]