holidays

altMommy, Children, Community, Family, Parenthood

Ramadan and repentance, through a child’s eyes

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.”

Read More
altMommy, Children

The Grinch lives on

<< From the Altmuslimah Archives >>
I’m irked by all the “Merry Christmas” cards, the Facebook pictures and the stories of my Muslim friends actively celebrating Christmas. This past December they were baking cookies for Santa, trimming trees and exchanging gifts–all decidedly un-Muslim activities.

Read More
Columns, Editorials

Ramadan memories

I remember as a little girl, learning the meaning of Ramadan from my parents. The month that the Qur’an was revealed…the idea of the month enthralled me. “Every day was Ramadan.” My mother said this and she and my father laughed…but I know they were speaking the truth.

Read More
Community, Culture, Mosque

Twenty years of stomach shrinking Ramadan

“You really shouldn’t fast,” an Indian hematologist in Bahrain warned me after I had been fasting for eleven years. She cautioned me that my iron levels were alarmingly low. “I’m concerned with your liquid intake more than the food. Your stomach isn’t big enough to accommodate both.”



Read More
Community

The Grinch lives on

Recently I logged into my email to find a photo of a relative’s baby posing with a furry little bunny looking back at me. The baby was beautiful and the bunny was…well, cute as a bunny. But the photo disturbed me because the baby sat smiling next to the Easter Bunny. The baby is Muslim and the Easter Bunny, well, not so much. But the Easter picture was a drop in the bucket compared to the ire Christmas brings to my heart.

Read More