On Saturday June 30, we had a small gathering to conduct Sonia and Eric’s Nikah. We rented the community room at Mona and Arif’s apartment…
The message behind the words is the voice of the heart - Rumi
The message behind the words is the voice of the heart - Rumi
On Saturday June 30, we had a small gathering to conduct Sonia and Eric’s Nikah. We rented the community room at Mona and Arif’s apartment…
These days I am asking myself the question: what did God intend by creating so many religions and pathways to Him? Some say that it…
I have written some blogs about my travels recently, and more have yet to be written about Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Karachi, etc. But as I…
At one of the interfaith circles that I have joined, a woman asked why Muslims react so violently to negative cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, or…
As a Pakistani-American residing in the US for over 40 years, I used to go regularly to Pakistan to visit family until recent years. After the tides turned against Pakistan in superpower politics, and the violence increased in the big cities especially, I began to worry about traveling there due to personal fear. So when I found myself at Dubai airport this January taking a flight to Lahore to visit my favourite uncle and mentor Dr. Abdul Raouf, I was both excited and scared. Would I find the driver? Would I reach the house safely? I did find the driver, and as we drove through the rather clean streets of Lahore, I began to feel a peace and a calming feeling washing over me. I remembered stories and movies of how these very same people experienced the bloody Partition when the British left and yet survived it. The streets must have been littered with blood and bones at that time as the British army retreated leaving a wake of sectarian violence of a scale never seen before. And maybe whenever, if ever, the American army retreats, they will survive again, and focus on re-building not tearing each other apart. I felt that vision despite the daily news of murders, assassination and bombings. And as I sat in the peaceful garden outside the guest room at Chachajan’s house listening to birds chirping in the mango, orange and banana trees, I felt at home and truly at peace. This is what peace could look like if we humans decided to aspire to our higher selves, not our animal brains, and this peace is all possible if only we put our minds and hearts to it.
If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again
“If I had my child to raise all over again,
I’d finger paint more, and point the finger less.
I’d do less correcting, and more connecting.
I’d take my eyes off my watch,
And watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less, and know to care more.
I’d take more hikes and fly more kites.
I’d stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields
And gaze at more stars.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
This past weekend was the grand feast of Thanksgiving all over America. Our own family loves this holiday and one household becomes the center of a lot of planning and expectations, as we all converge there to prepare foods and of course the turkey. This year we had three turkeys- being Americans, everyone had to stick to their preference! Some wanted Cajun turkey, others the regular old Butterball, and yet a third segment preferred a “chatpatta” halal turkey, with spices to take away the turkey odor! The number of side dishes and appetizers was astounding, and the desserts just as much, and of course left untouched due to the gluttony before it. It is a holiday to reflect and be grateful for what God has given us. In our family, we have a tradition of an appreciation ceremony, where everyone says what they are most grateful for that year and in general. I also like to remember all our ancestors who have passed and to whom we owe not just our very existence, but our character, our tastes, our preferences, our world experiences and so to them we are most grateful.
The WISE conference is finally over after 3.5 days of a whirlwind of workshops and presentations all facilitated by me as the MC! I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to serve this network of amazing women who moved all of us by their courage, their intellect and wisdom and their spiritual beauty!
Day 2 Istanbul
Today I met with the Program Committee of WISE at breakfast and we finalized the program for the Conference. I decided to take a taxi back to Eminomu, the European side, to have some alone time at the mosques and the bazaars and just to watch people, which is so much fun. The taxi dropped me right in front of the Yeni Cami, New Mosque, next to the Galata Bridge. As always, the pigeons were there in droves and I saw a blind man feeding them.