: About Me

I was born and brought up in Karachi, Pakistan - the country the Economist once described as "the most dangerous place in the world".

Currently, I am married and a mother of two children. I was born with the passion to write what I feel - I wrote my own short story (with a pen, mind you; there were no computers back then) at the age of thirteen. I had been maintaining a diary and writing poetry to vent my emotions since long before that, however. My essays during O' Levels were famously graphic if fictional, or ridden with emotions if based on personal experience.

It was during my undergraduate studies that I started searching for my identity - was I Muslim by chance or by choice? What would I have been had I not been born into a Muslim family? That constant mental bombardment of questions aimed at figuring out the purpose of my existence eventually led me to revert to my faith: Islam.

Today, I am a Computer Scientist, Quran Educationist, Islamic Instructor, Freelance Writer and Passionate Parent all rolled into one. I have two habits that have led me to where I stand today:

I question everything.
I always express what I feel.

If you want to see a sample of my articles, you can find them online by clicking on one of the links on the right. I write for an Islamic Family Magazine based in Pakistan, called "Hiba", UK-based SISTERS Magazine; I blog at MuslimMatters.Org, and teach subjects such as Arabic Grammar, Fiqh of Zakah, and Aqeedah, on a part-time basis at Al-Huda, an institution for Islamic education of Muslim women, geared towards spreading the light of the Quran, the Book of Allah.

My passion is ...

Reading good non-fiction literature

I know too much about ...

Parenting infants and toddlers

My parents always told me ...

To never lie or cheat

My childhood ambition ...

To become a scientist

My favorite memory ...

Hajj 2006

Why I write ...

It gives me great pleasure and satisfaction to express what I feel

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

The Quran

My first job ...

Technical Writer

My best moment ...

When I laid eyes on the Ka'ba for the first time

My inspiration ...

Islam

Religion & Spirituality > Islam Memoirs: My pilgrimage to Mecca

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Witnessing some of my kith and kin prepare for, and embark on Hajj this year, has brought back some very fond memories from the first and only Hajj I performed almost four years ago. Hajj is indeed an incredible experience. It is as unpredictable as it is tasking, taking its toll on one's physical and emotional faculties, yet teaching valuable lessons. There were times I was really shocked, especially in situations that I could not have imagined becoming a part of, before starting my sacred Hajj journey to please Allah. No number of Hajj preparatory lectures and literature-reading (albeit ...

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