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People of my generation tend to have a little ditty secured firmly in our minds thanks to an Australian soap-opera that ran for the duration of our childhood: “Neighbours: everybody needs good neighbours.” It was never going to win anyone a Grammy, but it was a word of truth all the same.

Award-winning columnist Johann Hari has a piece in today’s Independent entitled We need to stop being such cowards about Islam. By 10.00am this morning it was the most emailed, read and commented article on their website. It is, he says, a column condemning cowardice: “It begins with the story of a novel you cannot read.”

Inexplicable rage: I experienced this yesterday lunchtime. I usually walk to the mosque for the midday prayer, for it’s just fifteen minutes away, but with heavy showers coming and going all day I decided to take my car. My journey would be quicker that way and I was sure not to get a soaking as [...]

There has been a lot of coverage of the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem over the past few days and of the remarks of Bishop Peter Akinola inparticular. Those who applaud the bishop for his ‘conservative’ views ought to be made aware of what these include.

A friend drew our attention to this video on CNN Turk about going to Yayla (highlands) in Black Sea, Turkey. Even if you can’t understand Turkish it is still good to watch because it shows what life is like up there. My own mother goes up every year; indeed she headed off just last week [...]

You know you have a problem with your ego when: 1.) You find yourself checking the site statistics on your website twice a day; 2.) You keep logging into the control panel to see if anyone has left a comment; 3.) A friend lists their favourite websites and you’re upset that yours is not mentioned; [...]

In Turkey, Eid al-Fitr is known as Seker Bayram, meaning sugar festival—and for good reason.

Last year we were fortunate enough to be able to go to the Black Sea in Ramadan and take in the sights, sounds and scents of the harvest.

The number of people in Somalia in need of emergency food aid is likely to rise to about 3.5m in the coming months, the United Nations has warned. Mark Bowden, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator for the region, says the food crisis is dramatically worsening. Somalia faces a worse situation than Darfur, Mr Bowden says. Source: [...]

Long-term visitors to my old Neurocentric website know that I struggle with my writing: they have read To be or not to be?, Troubled Writer, Conversation with the nafs and Another Evaluation amongst many, many others.

Ckemish Fehime’s knitted woollen slippers are known as Patik in the Hamsetsi language.

The garden a month on as the flowers begin to come into bloom.