AJ Stream: Faith in times of fear
Al Jazeera English’s The Stream recently featured this conversation on faith in times of fear: Photo Credit
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“Color”-blind
My five-year-old daughter started school this week and she said, or rather did not say, something which left me amazed. I asked Sammy who she played with on her first day of school and she happily replied, “Jordan!” When I asked her to tell me all about her new friend,…
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Invisible Woman (also known as Muslimah)
Last month, in a train station pizza shop, I sat somehow gulping down a slice while carrying on a professional phone call in between bites. I slowly began to feel stares. Confused ones. Curious ones. And could it be…hostile ones, too? I couldn’t be sure. So, I had to wonder…
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The hot, humid, holy month for Karachi
For people in Karachi the heat wave of the last week has coincided with the first days of Ramadan. Mohammad Hanif (author of “A Case of Exploding Mangoes” and “Our Lady of Alice Bhatti”) wrote a New York Times op-ed piece – published today – giving insight on the factors at play in…
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Is showing off on Facebook a sign of insecurity?
That friend of yours who is constantly updating her/his profile pic with their significant other might be compensating for something lacking in the relationship. According to the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Journal, The present set of studies investigates relationship visibility, the centrality of relationships in the self-images that people convey…
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My Son is Not the Same as Me: Race, Power and Islamophobia
As my son grows up, he and I are becoming increasingly aware of one big difference between us: I have white skin and he has brown skin. We sometimes play a game in which I pretend that his arms are made of chocolate and I try to eat them, much…
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Back to the motherland: From Jersey to Pakistan
There are days when I wish I never stepped foot into Pakistan. The leers from strange men older than my grandfather and the constant electricity shortages in above 100 degree weather can compel anyone to consider fleeing the country. And yet, I can’t help but love it. I was born…
Read MoreLet’s get (meta)physical
My friends call it my “deer-in-headlights” look. Not all of them recognize it, but a select few know it when they see it. Until a few weeks ago, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what brought on this feeling of unease in certain social settings. “I just feel….lost?” I tried helplessly to explain to one friend.
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