At the beginning of this year, my daughter Kak Andak started first grade at a new religious school. It’s a private school operated by the charitable foundation of the State Mosque, specializing in Quran memorization. For the last year and a half, it had been operating in the basement of the State Mosque itself. A […]
Tag Archives: malaysia
Lemang Raya
Lemang is quintessential Malay holiday food, impossible to find throughout the year, impossible to avoid come Hari Raya. Lemang is glutinous, or sticky, rice cooked in coconut milk inside a length of bamboo and roasted over an open fire. The work involved in making it is considerable. First, locate and chop down a giant piece […]
American Muslim Expat Life
Author and Professor Dr Jamillah Karim spent a year living in Kuala Lumpur. Read this great interview by Sister Brooke, and then visit Dr Jamillah’s blog for a series of thoughtful reflections on what living in Malaysia was like for her as an African American Muslim, what insights she gained about the immigrant Muslim experience […]
Good News for Mixed Kids
Malaysia never stops changing. Controversial areas like race, religion, native privilege (bumiputera status), and national language are constantly in a state of flux. Most recently, when I registered the birth of my latest child, I discovered that the birth certificate itself had changed (for the second time), and that now the race of the child […]
Fashion Week Malaysia
Photographs from the yearly Muslim Fashion Festival 2007, brought to you by AltMuslimah’s Photographic Campaign.
Kekabu
Among the more dramatic trees in the settled landscapes of Malaysia is the Kekabu or Kapok Tree (Ceiba pentandra), a gargantuan tropical version of the common large-for-Michigan Cottonwood Tree (Populus deltoides) of my youth. A truly massive tree, it grows to easily 100 feet high, with thick strong lateral branches radiating out in whorls at […]
The Mawlid of al-Barzanji
Manaqib Productions is releasing the Mawlid Barzanji on CD in August, with a booklet of the Arabic verses and English translation. The first chapter is available for preview in mp3 form, via Abdassamad Clarke, who has been involved in the production. Mawlid Barzanji is the most commonly recited mawlid in Malaysia. Copies of it are […]
Wild Honey
Honey is a blessed food, mentioned in the Quran and praised often by Nabi Muhammad (saws) for its healing properties. Not to mention, it tastes great too! My mother keeps bees on her farm, and the raw honey she produces has such a fantastic flavor. Whenever my family visits, I beg then to bring along […]