I was nine years old when I made one of my first major pleas of repentance to God. It was Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. Kids are not required to fast until they hit puberty, but even in kindergarten, I hated being left out of Ramadan and begged my parents to let me fast. To put an end to my whining, they told me that if I didn’t eat anything between my meals, it would count as a “half-fast.”
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Train Like a Kardashian, Eat Like a Giraffe: Two Lawyers and a Personal Trainer Discuss Mariam: While I’ve never been thin, I have found that I have been more motivated to get fit since I had my kids. Of course, given the demands of balancing a career with a home…
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[columns_row width=”third”] [column] Mariam Ahmed is a regulatory lawyer. Raised in the U.S, Mariam moved from a law firm in the U.S. to work at a futures exchange in Dubai, where she is currently the Head of Compliance & Risk. Mariam and her husband, Haroon, have two little boys, Hamza…
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Working moms often carry heavy loads of “mom guilt” when trying to balance work and childcare. Much of the guilt is rooted in worries that being away from their kids somehow harms them in the long run. Now, studies show that children of working moms –especially daughters of working moms–…
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It’s Mother’s Day, and everyone on my social media feed is posting mushy things about their moms. As I scroll through Facebook I’m reminded that “paradise is found below your mother’s feet” and “God can’t be everywhere so He made mothers,” and that moms are saints and/or angels. I see…
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I am thirty-seven, single and childless. The latter two of these three descriptives are taboo within the Muslim community. Whether you live in America, Pakistan or Egypt, if you are not attached to a husband and with a brood of children in tow, you are an outsider. Extended family and…
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Work-life balance is an issue of tremendous perplexity — and one that plagues every woman who seeks to “have it all.” altM will be featuring a series of conversation-style pieces between working moms Asma and Mariam (both lawyers who have been practicing for 10 years) that will explore the struggles…
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It’s late at night, or maybe the wee hours of the morning before dawn. It’s quiet, the kind of quiet where you can hear the breathing patterns of everyone in the house and the creaks in walls and ceilings like invisible footsteps. Soft, yellow light glows like a halo around…
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Have you ever searched for a recipe on Pinterest, only to find that it tasted awful? If the answer is yes, you are not alone! Last year, I attempted to make banana pancakes, a recipe I had pinned…what a disaster! Not only did the banana pancakes fall apart in the…
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Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbor, the neighbor farther away, the companion at your side, the traveler, and those whom your right hands possess. Indeed, Allah does not like those who are arrogant and boastful. (Qur’an,…
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