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A return

Last Wednesday I felt compelled to share some sentiments that occurred to me just then with some of those passers-by who used to frequent this blog:

In bad times and good, hold fast to the rope of Allah and never let go. Never take your faith for granted. Strive in His Way, always. Rely on Him and Trust in Him. From Him we come and unto Him is our return.

By way of response, some of those readers felt compelled to share their own thoughts with me: asking me not abandon my blog. My initial response may have been a little dismissive: I did not think I could still write in this medium. During a long drive up and down the motorway yesterday, however, I began to ponder on their advice and words. Perhaps I would not be so stubborn.

And so to today: I have restored the blog and, if the Most Merciful Wills, will continue to write from time to time. I cannot promise to contribute regularly — and it will take a while to recreate a more blog-appropriate layout that works with this website — but I will try to write from time to time, inshaAllah.

New Directions

Respected readers and visitors, salam alaikum (peace)!

The time has come, I think, to take this website and domain in a new direction. For the past seven years, even if intermittently, I have used this blog (and its predecessor, the Neurocentric) to share thoughts, feelings and views on all matter of topics. Many of my posts have been intensely intimate — a kind of public soul searching — exploring my relationship with God and with my Nafs, and with sin, temptation, regrets, pain, addiction, gratitude and love.

Some of it I regret, although perhaps some of it had to be said at the time. At times, I saw my writing as a kind of articulated supplication, substituting my unfluent tongue with the written word. I do not regret every word, but sometimes I regret the intentions that accompanied some of them, or what became of the words after I had written them, or the avenues that the act of public writing can lead us down.

At present I am working on various writing projects offline, which I intend to publish in the future as printed works and e-books, if the Most Merciful wills. Some of them are based upon things I have written here, though revisited and refined for wider public consumption. Others are larger works that have occupied me over the years. The technologies of electronic publishing and print-on-demand make it possible to publish without a publisher, even if the latter still disparagingly refer to this as the Vanity Press. But surely only the Prophets – peace be upon them all – speak without a speck of vanity.

My intention for some time now has been to use this website as the interface between me and those books. This task has been delayed by the works themselves taking longer to prepare than I had envisaged and as a result of me being unable to find the time to develop the website itself as I have in mind. Two tasks which seem no nearer completion, however many months pass by. But this is the direction I want to take myself and my writing in, as soon as I am able. Some of you will remember that I have made this intention several times over the past few years — perhaps it speaks volumes of my talent for procrastination that I am still not yet ready even now.

Fehime’s Patiks

As usual, my mother-in-law has been busy knitting all year round in anticipation of a cold winter and I am duty-bound to share such delights…

http://folio.me.uk/patiks/2011/11/december-2011/

A description of this hobby of hers can be found here:

http://folio.me.uk/patiks/about/

Lest any of your gadget-hipsters think there is nothing here for you, here is proof that she has even thought of you — a snug sleeping bag for your icy iPhone…

 

Salamutations

Thanks for dropping by; it’s nice to see you. Unfortunately I have no time for writing at present and, indeed, nothing to say. However, I am well and happy, alhamdulilah, so don’t read any untowards meanings into by prolonged absence. I’m just incredibly busy. Peace.

Ckemish Fehime’s Patiks

Handmade Knitted SlippersThis year it feels a bit like we are caught in the midst of a never-ending winter. We have had a few days of sun and heat, but the grey clouds and cold wind seems to predominate. This might be the reason we have seen healthy sales of my mother-in-law’s handmade woolen slippers this year: they are just the thing to warm the feet. But then, it might just be their beauty.

Whenever we visit our village close to Turkey’s border with Georgia on the Black Sea coast, my wife’s mother will be found with five knitting needles in hand, creating one pair of slippers after the other, each one unique yet still featuring complex, elegant designs. How she does it, I’m not quite sure, but perhaps her skill is akin to that of high-speed touch typists.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilahi raji’un.

We never know, of course, when our chances will cease. I have just seen the CCTV footage showing the moment when a car driven by a drunken driver sped through red lights at a junction and ploughed into the car in which my brother-in-law was travelling the Sunday before last. The speeding car hit the rear passenger door and killed my brother-in-law’s best friend, who happened to have swapped sides with him on this one occaison. Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we return.

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