When I was studying for my Masters degree in Publishing six years ago, I was interested as a recent convert to Islam in the question of safeguarding knowledge now that technology had brought publishing within virtually anyone’s grasp. As a new Muslim I was interested in the question of what constituted knowledge, given that I …
I have been asked to write something about my love of writing, where it started and so on. It is an interesting question, especially when I look back. I am not well read nor am I learned. I did not have this interest throughout school – or at least I don’t think I did – …
There is a fantastic bird of prey that I have seen circling in the sky in this region repeatedly over recent months. It is one of the most exciting sights I know. Sitting at my work station in the office all day under the buzzing florescent lighting, the sight of one those birds – some …
Exactly a decade ago I spent every day, between the hours of about two in the afternoon and three in the morning, tapping out a novel called The Beauty of the Lion. I had just finished a short contract testing mapping software on the Science Park in Cambridge and had returned to my parents’ home. …
The power of words is astonishing. Some have the power to stir the emotions, to lighten one’s load. Others strike like a knitting needle pushed through the heart; that piercing pain that arises on receipt of harsh sentiments. Others still just perturb. Last night I could not sleep because words had unsettled me. My chest …
It is Easter weekend and I am staying in the Rectory with my parents. As both of them are vicars responsible for different churches, they are in and out all weekend. The station of the cross on Good Friday after the night vigil on Thursday. My mother has already returned from her service this evening, …
Something to keep in mind… Question 1: “Are these words true?” Question 2: “Are these words necessary?” Question 3: “Are these words beneficial?” Question 4: “Are these words kind?” If I think the answer is no, I should probably leave them in my head.
As most people who have been reading this web log for a while will have come to appreciate, I am not one to view the Muslim world through rose-tinted spectacles. Indeed I have never shied away from condemning the violence and depravity emerging from Muslim nations. I dislike the refrain that “The West” is to …
For the second time I watched Rabbit-Proof Fence this weekend. It tells the story of ‘half-caste’ children who were brought up in camps and homes in an attempt to ‘advance’ them into white society. Thousands of children were forcibly removed from Aboriginal mothers between 1900 and 1971. The film is the true story of Molly …
With increasing frequency I suffer from bouts of melancholy. It exhibits itself in periods of unhappiness which come upon me unexpectedly and seemingly for no reason. It also appears – as it has done this afternoon – in the form of heightened emotions. I have written about this in the past, identifying spiritual causes as …
Sometimes I feel like the nomad. I came to Islam towards the end of the twentieth century of the Christian Era, over fourteen hundred years after the Prophet’s migration to Medina, peace be upon him. I came to Islam after the European colonial age which saw the slaughter of Muslim scholars and the “Great Powers” …
“Then He lifted Himself to heaven when it was smoke, and said to it and to the earth, “Come willingly, or unwillingly!” They said, “We come willingly.” From the translation by the non-Muslim, Arthur J. Arberry (1905-69), Verse 10, page 491, The World’s Classics Series: The Koran Intepreted, Oxford Univisity Press, 1964
When I as studying for my Masters degree six years ago, I was interested as a recent convert to Islam in the question of safeguarding knowledge now that technology had brought publishing within virtually anyone’s grasp.
We have just entered Rabi’ Al-Awwal, the month of the Islamic calendar so intimately connected to significant events in the life of our blessed Prophet – peace be upon him – not least of which were his birth and death. This month will be marked by some with remembrance of Allah and with words of …
Where are the real men? The latest book I have started reading is the Al-Azhar translation of “The men around the Messenger” which I was given several years ago. Naturally it goes without saying that we are like flies beside these great characters, but still it would be nice to think we were not a …
