At first, you do it every day, sometimes even twice a day. As time goes by, it is less and less frequent until after many years, once or twice a month feels like a big accomplishment. Blogging! I’m talking about blogging of course. Although my blogging schedule has gotten more and more infrequent, I’ve never felt the urge to shut it down. In Malay, they have a saying that sums it up: “Hidup Segan, Mati Tak Mau”, roughly translated, “Too timid to live, but …

I got the best birthday present ever yesterday: my wife delivered a healthy baby boy on the 9th of November, my birthday and my uncle’s birthday. His name is Muhammad Imran, born 1.30pm, 3.9kg (that’s a little more than 8 and a half pounds for you non-metric people). We opted for elective C-sec since the baby was transverse and never moved into a head-down position. During the procedure we learned why: the baby’s cord was wrapped around his neck AND wrapped around his leg. …

Eid Mubarak and Selamat Hari Raya one and all.
It was a very busy, very difficult Ramadan for me. I worked three weeks straight without a day off until the Friday before Eid, barely stepping into my neighborhood musallah all month. I lost around five pounds, putting me to my thinnest since I got married, and yet I’m as out of shape as ever – what’s up with that? As always though, the month is filled with its own blessings. On the work front, I got my …

The fasting month is proceeding apace. This year, I have three children fasting from dawn to dusk, Munirah is fasting from dawn till when she returns from school, and Najihah is fasting from breakfast all the way to lunch. With so many earnest young fasters, the iftar spread is of vital importance to bolster their thinly-spread iman. So every evening on my way home from work, I stop by our friendly neighborhood bazaar/pasar for goodies.
All the specialties of the season are on display: fancy sweets, …

An excerpt from Three Roods Charm, a short story by Michael Short set on my mom and dad’s farm:
“Did David Bowie bother you at sunrise?” Greg asked.
“Huh?” I said.
“What I meant was how did you sleep?”
“Oh. Wonderful,” I said. This was my first morning at Three Roods Farm, and I made sure to sound cheery and willing. I hadn’t a clue what chores might await me.
“I’m sorry, but did you say David Bowie?” I asked.
“Yes, but never mind for now.” Greg seemed pleased about something. He was the kind of …

The azan can be heard all around Kuching from the suraus in most every neighborhood. Sometimes it takes a bit of work to find where it is coming from. Taking a shortcut through a secluded neighborhood on my way home late from work, I would often hear the azan called loudly nearby, see old uncles walking down the street in kain palikat and songkok, but never saw the mosque. I decided to explore one day on foot, and discovered the surau tucked away in a …

ABIM, the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement, is one of the oldest and strongest Islamic NGOs in Malaysia today. Founded in 1972, ABIM is influential on the national stage in lobbying for Islamic policies. It is the leading component organization in PEMBELA, an Islamic affairs pressure group. But its most recognizable effort on the ground is the Taski ABIM, a preschool and kindergarten operation with hundreds of locations around the country. Here in Kuching, ABIM runs five different branches offering morning and afternoon classes for 4,5 and …

As both of my regular readers are well aware, the major focus of this blog is whatever adorable thing my children happen to be up to at the moment. Nonetheless, I do try to intersperse that with other topics to keep things fresh, and so with that in mind I’d like to share with you this latest bit of news:

So it looks like I won’t be making that trip home to Michigan that I thought I would this June, due to, how you say, irresolvable differences of contractual interpretation between myself and my employer. I’m tempted to give in to sentimentality here and list out all the things I really miss about home, but where would that get me? The places you dream about are also the places your nightmares come from, and so maybe I ought to reflect on that.
This is the Southfield-Jeffries Interchange, …

Brooke of Sheer Fluency has organized a Blog Carnival on White Privilege and the Ummah.
It’s a great topic, but it occurred to me that for plenty of us white folks, myself included, the first step is figuring out what white folks are in the first place. During my discussion with Umar about white Muslims and the comments from different people that followed, a common idea that came up was that white people are a distinct race of people with distinct culture and traits, and by distinct I …