When it’s Muslims doing it.

This past week there’s been a big brouhaha in the British media about a mosque in east London which put on a fun-run in a local park as a fundraiser, but made it men-only (girls under 12 excepted). A government minister (Steve Reed) put out a condemnation and was reported to have consulted the Equalities and Human Rights Commission to ascertain whether the event in Victoria Park, Hackney, which was the East London Mosque’s twelfth annual charity run, was legal. Matthew Goodwin, an academic whose Twitter feed and Substack are nowadays a conveyor belt of Faragist propaganda, proclaimed “this is Britain, not Afghanistan” and posted a “what is to be done” article on his paid Substack, calling for us to follow Italy’s lead and ban the ‘burqa’ and niqaab with large fines for any women caught wearing it. (He doesn’t propose criminalising Muslim men’s dress, of course; bigots always target women.) He then posted a quote of his original tweet, citing a Policy Exchange survey which found that “40% of Muslims in Britain support gender-segregated education, while 44% think schools should be able to insist on girls wearing the hijab or niqab”.

Except … single-sex sporting events are the norm, as are single-sex schools, especially secondary schools.

Almost all sports exist with men’s and women’s categories. It would not be fair to women to expect them to compete with men; indeed, there has been a vocal campaign by women to ensure trans women are excluded from the female category because they have some of the same advantages as men. (There are some exceptions; there is a mixed doubles tournament in tennis, and the wheelchair sport variously known as murderball, quad rugby and wheelchair rugby is mixed.) It is also not compulsory to even have men’s and women’s categories at major events; there are many national cycling tours for men, for example, such as the Tour de France and Giro D’Italia, which have only a shorter event for women, none of which meets the criteria for a Grand Tour at present and do not run every year. Many of the ‘classic’ cycle races also have no female event. It is common for women’s games to be paid much less than men’s, or for women’s games to be amateur or semi-professional, while male players receive anyone else’s idea of a year’s pay in a week. The only difference here is that the organisers excluded women because they believed their participation was inappropriate, not for the usual reasons that they just had never bothered to put a women’s event on or because the women’s game gets less sponsorship. But the end result was the same.

As for the preference for single-sex schools, almost every British local authority has at least one single-sex school and it is common for such schools (especially Catholic schools) to retain old-fashioned uniforms, requiring skirts of a particular design for girls for example. Many parents prefer them, arguing that during adolescence, it is a distraction to have both sexes in a school together; they particularly prefer them for girls, arguing that boys monopolise teachers’ time and attention at girls’ expense and that girls are relied on to moderate boys’ behaviour. The requirement for hijab for girls at a Muslim faith school is in keeping with the practice in other schools, which are allowed to have uniforms which are different for boys and girls. In some private schools, antiquated uniforms are retained; at state schools, there is a requirement that it not be financially burdensome, although many schools (particularly academies) do require expensive bespoke uniform items. The requirement of hijab for women and girls beyond puberty is well established in Islamic law and is thus the norm among practising Muslim women in the UK, so it is to be expected that a school run along Muslim principles, by a Muslim organisation for the betterment of the Muslim community should require Islamic dress. (None, from what I can tell, actually require niqaab; many do not even allow it.)

So, a sporting event that was men-only, and Muslims prefer single-sex secondary schools. These are all normal, or actually preferred by many people in this country, Muslims and others. It seems a “British value” ceases to be one when Muslims place emphasis on it.

Image: Muhamad Rifqi Fawzi, via Pexels.

Once close partners against the U.S. occupation, Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban government now trade accusations of betrayal, revealing deeper crises of mistrust, militarism, and faith across the Muslim world’s most volatile border.

October 2025

 

Strained Relations Four Years After Taliban Takeover

Four years after a Taliban conquest of Afghanistan widely welcomed in Pakistan, relations between the two neighbors have struck a low as each accuses the other of supporting its insurgency, reaching a nadir this week with skirmishes on the border.

Taliban soldiers

Where the Taliban emirate accused Pakistan of supporting a Daesh underground, Pakistan’s military-led coalition regime has accused Afghanistan of supporting insurgents, including a namesake insurgency in northwest Pakistan’s Pashtun borderland. The more pressing insurgency in Pakistan stems neither from Afghan malfeasance, as Islamabad claims, nor is it an entirely domestic affair, as Kabul counters.

Buried among the rhetoric, blame-trading, and saber-rattling are several inconvenient truths that neither regime nor its cheerleaders seems inclined to acknowledge, but which are critical to factor into any solution.

Contrasting Claims and Misrepresentations

Pakistani accusers rightly note that insurgent leaders Nur-Wali Asim of the Mahsud clan and Gul Bahadur of the Wazir clan have received refuge in Afghanistan, and that attacks picked up pace since the Taliban return to Kabul in 2021. Afghan rejoinders rightly point out that the roots of Pakistan’s crisis are domestic and largely self-inflicted: a consistently militaristic policy in the borderland has failed for years regardless of insurgent leaders’ whereabouts, while none of Afghanistan’s other neighbors have faced such a problem despite their own insurgents’ “refuge” in the emirate.

The most extreme claims on either side resort to obfuscation. On one hand are exaggerated Taliban claims of Pakistani complicity in the American occupation of Afghanistan, which ignore the greater role of other states —especially Pakistan’s archrival India, a cheerleader of the occupation right to and beyond its end— and the respite that successive Pakistani regimes gave despite considerable American irritation. On the other hand are nationalistic claims, especially loud among supporters of the Pakistani military, that claim primordial Afghan hatred, conspiracy, and ingratitude.

Historical Ironies and Shifting Allegiances

The latter claim contributed to an atmosphere where thousands of Afghans have been callously and humiliatingly uprooted from decades-long refuge. Ironically, this claim is itself a misdirected rejoinder to longstanding claims by the preceding, American-installed government of Afghanistan, which claimed in ethnicized terms that the Taliban were merely a cat’s paw of scheming “Punjabi” Pakistanis. By painting opponents as Pakistani puppets, the Afghan regimes of 2001–21 disingenuously portrayed their own utter dependency on a foreign invasion as a sort of nationalist virtue against their neighbor’s meddling.

The claim that Pakistan’s insurgency has accelerated since 2021 misses the point that for much of the prior fifteen years, its deceleration had been assisted through Taliban mediation, which persuaded many such militants to help fight the United States in Afghanistan rather than fight the Pakistani government. This stance was particularly emphasized by the Haqqanis, who have had a decades-long policy of support for Pakistan as far afield as Kashmir.

Nor was it an exclusively Taliban stance: in 2004–05, Pakistani corps commander Safdar Hussain, who led the first campaigns in northwest Pakistan against Wazir and Mahsud insurgents, urged them to abandon revolt against Islamabad and focus on jihad against the Americans. An unamused United States repeatedly attacked deals between the military and the insurgents; for example, Sirajuddin Haqqani mediated at Miranshah between Bahadur and the military in 2006, only for American airstrikes to sabotage the agreement.

The Rise of New Militants

Qari Saifullah Akhtar

This prompted a number of Pakistani militants to disavow the Pakistani regime and take up arms. Many were longstanding fighters who felt betrayed by the state that had once backed them, and ignored the pleas of such scholars as the Usmani brothers, Muftis Taqi and Rafi, to stand down.

One such militant was Saifullah Akhtar, whom Rafi had known in the 1980s and complimented in a subsequent 1990s book that also saluted the Taliban movement; his newfound hostility to a regime within whose military he had significant contacts was particularly dangerous, yet he was eventually persuaded to leave Pakistan and fight alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, where he was killed.

A Balancing Act Between Foes and Allies

The modus vivendi that the Taliban adopted was to maintain ties with both sides of the Pakistan war, the army and the insurgency, in a manner similar to how the Pakistani military kept links with both sides of the Afghan war, the United States and the Taliban. Rejecting insurgency against Pakistan, on numerous occasions, Taliban mediation redirected Pakistani insurgents against the United States.

A number of secondary Taliban commanders did sympathize with the Pakistani insurgency against a state they saw as having betrayed them: a sentiment that no doubt retains currency in the rank-and-file. But this was always an informal minority: Sirajuddin, whose uncles Khalilur-Rahman Ahmad and Ibrahim Umari played a key role in coordination with Pakistani officers, also urged such Pakistani counterparts as Bahadur to focus their attention on the Americans in Afghanistan.

This preceded a major turning point in 2014, during a major campaign by the Pakistani army, yet this success relied in part on also internecine disputes among the insurgents after the elimination of a series of leaders.

A major factor was the emergence of Daesh, to which large parts of the insurgency defected. Although it opposed both rival governments in Islamabad and Kabul, Daesh’s principal target was the Taliban, whom it accused of inauthenticity and—ironically given today’s circumstances—servitude to Pakistan. The conflict with Daesh forced the Taliban to draw closer to Pakistani insurgents, such as Bahadur and Mahsud preacher Nur-Wali Asim, as a counterweight.

Reform Efforts Under Imran Khan

Imran Khan

A major factor in draining the insurgency was the major attempts at reform made by Imran Khan’s Insaf Party, which assumed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial government. Khan had drawn support in large part from his opposition to the American “war on terror” and Pakistani acquiescence therein: by all accounts, the Insaf government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was a major improvement, and retains major support in the province to this day.

It also tried to incorporate the historically autonomous, but increasingly militarized, Waziristan borderland under its control, which Nur-Wali opposed as this approach promised to solve many of the grievances on which he drew.

Nur-Wali’s Hardline Stance

Though Nur-Wali reorganized the insurgency and, to an extent, its conduct, he refused to negotiate, painting his fight as part of a historical Mahsud resistance against British colonialism and a Pakistani state seen as its American-backed heir. In fact, the Mahsuds who fiercely fought Britain had largely supported Pakistan right up to the 2004 incursion in Waziristan—a product not of primordial Pakistani illegitimacy but rather involvement in the much more recent American war on terror. This stance was far harsher than that of the Taliban and even affiliated insurgents like Bahadur, and has precluded meaningful negotiations.

Insurgencies and Unneighborly Behavior

The Pakistani claim that the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 coincided with a sharp uptick in attacks within Pakistan ignores the fact that the previous decade’s decline owed in part to repeated Taliban mediation on Islamabad’s behalf. On the other hand, as I pointed out at the time, Taliban wariness of Daesh meant that they cultivated ties with Pakistani insurgents: famously, upon capturing Kabul, they executed Daesh leader Ziaul-Haq Zia but released the Pakistani insurgent leader Faqir Mohammad.

Yet this was not an inherently anti-Pakistan move: Faqir had been imprisoned by the previous Afghan regime precisely because he was seen as more amenable to negotiations with Islamabad, and Sirajuddin Haqqani, now Taliban interior minister, immediately held negotiations between Imran’s Pakistani government, including the military represented by spymaster Faiz Hameed, and militants like Bahadur.

Post-Imran Escalation and Missteps

Whether this would have succeeded is unknown—certainly some militants continued to snipe away at Pakistan regardless and might have never reconciled—but the 2022 coup that ousted Imran, and quickly courted relations with an anti-Taliban United States, escalating not through targeting insurgent units in Pakistan but bombing across the Afghan border—the sort of unilateral action that was bound to raise Taliban hackles. The Pakistani military, led by Asim Munir, has made a point of theatrical escalation with Kabul—yet its initial focus was not the Pakistani insurgency, which gained ground over 2023, but crushing Imran’s still-influential party through major, occasionally bloody, suppression and electoral manipulation.

Deportations and Counterproductive Policy

The response toward the insurgency has similarly been unimpressive and counterproductive to its stated aims, particularly the mass deportation of Afghans that began in autumn 2023. This was a political decision that aimed to give the impression of vigilance by whipping up anti-Afghan sentiments; in its rivalry with the Insaf party, the military establishment and its many hangers-on have portrayed both Taliban and Afghans broadly as scheming confederates of Imran in a sort of fifth column. This provoked widespread hostility among affected communities in the borderland.

It was also practically counterproductive: the mass deportations of Afghans across the border logistically confounded the task that Pakistan demanded of the Taliban, to intercept Pakistani insurgents. This was further complicated by the fact that Daesh remained an underground threat, assassinating many Taliban officials, fighters, and leaders, including Sirajuddin’s uncle Khalilur-Rahman, governor-general Daud Muzamil, and corps commander Hamdullah Mukhlis. With their own challenges, the Taliban are hardly in a position to solve Pakistan’s largely self-inflicted woes.

Half-Hearted Cooperation and Growing Misgivings

This does not, however, remove the fact that Taliban cooperation has been at best half-hearted. In part, this stems from its reluctance to alienate non-Daesh militants, who have, in fact, flared up in indignation whenever the emirate has tried to relocate them away from the Pakistani border. In part, it stems from misgivings toward a confrontational Pakistani military bent on scapegoating Afghanistan for all internal challenges. It also stems from an insistence that the Pakistani insurgency is a primarily internal issue: after all, the Taliban also hosts opposition militants from other countries, none of which have caused anywhere near the amount of trouble as the Pakistani insurgents. To this extent, the argument made by both Khan and the Taliban that the Pakistani insurgency stems from internal Pakistani grievances holds truth.

Parallel Rejections and Border Tensions

Yet if the Pakistani military has been aggressive, Taliban denials ring irrelevant if not hollow. The indignation the emirate evinced when Islamabad flirted with exiled critics is hardly more than that in Pakistan when it sees the likes of Nur-Wali given deferential treatment in Afghanistan. The rejectionism that Nur-Wali directs toward Islamabad is similar to that which Daesh directs toward Kabul. No state, Pakistan or others, tolerates repeated cross-border raids of the type the Taliban are unwilling to interdict for reasons more of political expediency than principle.

Structural Causes and Continuing Violence

On the other hand, the emirate’s ability to control the border has been severely circumscribed by such clumsy and destructive policies as the mass deportations of Afghans. The Taliban spent over a decade, even while fighting a guerrilla war against the United States, mediating with the Pakistani insurgency on behalf of the same military that now scapegoats it.

The Pakistani war is not a product of Taliban inaction: even if the Taliban surrendered every Pakistani insurgent leader from Afghan territory, the twenty-year militarization, social upheaval, and political disputes that exacerbated the war remain. Some twenty senior insurgent leaders have been killed, almost on a yearly basis, since the Waziristan conflict broke out in the mid-2000s, and there is little reason to suppose that the capture or killing of Nur-Wali or Bahadur would make a long-term difference without addressing issues in an approach that the military of late has flatly shunned. Bombing Kabul in pursuit of Nur-Wali might give some short-term catharsis and a few bragging rights, but it only threatens to exacerbate mistrust without addressing these underlying issues.

When these obvious points are raised, however, a military increasingly intolerant of contradiction lashes out.

Forward Steps and Barriers

The solution is not as complicated as it might seem. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan’s insurgents stem from the same geographic stretch, the border highlands, which both states have long struggled to control. The simplest task is, in military terms, joint security collaboration against both Afghan and Pakistani insurgents, and in sociopolitical terms, an improved and more accountable governance. A sensible policy would see Afghanistan and Pakistan cooperate on this region rather than trade mostly spurious accusations and recriminations.

The barrier to such commonsense is the exponential mutual mistrust, related to the two neighbors’ addiction to alliances that have only ever escalated the problem—for Taliban with Pakistani insurgents who are airily whitewashed as “good Muslims” regardless of the number of Muslims their war victimizes; and for Pakistan’s military with a United States that it has shamelessly courted since 2022, partly pursuant to its feud with Imran, regardless of the sociopolitical costs it brings to the country.

It is easier to scapegoat a neighbor through selectively remembered or distorted history rather than introspect and apply to them the same standards sought in one’s own country: so much for Muslim neighbors in the “Islamic emirate” and the “Islamic nuclear power.”

Related:

On the Pakistan-India Dangerous Escalation

Afghanistan’s Experiment: Progress and Peril Under Taliban Rule

 

 

The post Allies In War, Enemies In Peace: The Unraveling Of Pakistan–Taliban Relations appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

A monthly digest of key developments in Palestine showcasing powerful images by photojournalists.

American art historian and museum curator with a special focus on Iran and the Islamic world

For more than four decades, Sheila Canby, who has died aged 76 from complications of lung cancer, devoted her working life to Islamic art, and to the arts of Iran in particular.

She published extensively, created groundbreaking exhibitions – notably at the British Museum in London – and oversaw the installation of new galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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PM hails Trump’s part in Middle East peace deal but says what matters now is implementation. This live blog is closed

Europe’s most senior human rights official has called on Shabana Mahmood to review UK protest laws after mass arrests over the ban on Palestine Action, Rajeev Syal reports.

The Commons authorities have confirmed that there will be two statements in the chamber after 12.30pm: first, Keir Starmer on the Middle East peace summit, and then Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, on the Northern Ireland Troubles bill being published today.

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A knife attack at a student protest at the University of Edinburgh reveals much about institutional hypocrisy.

Event in Victoria Park organised by East London mosque and London Muslim Centre was open to ‘men, boys of all ages and girls under 12’

The communities secretary has said it was “absolutely unacceptable” for women to be excluded from taking part in a Muslim charity run in London.

The event on Sunday, in Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets, was advertised on the Muslim Charity Run website as an “inclusive 5km race” for “runners and supporters of all ages and abilities” – open to “men, boys of all ages and girls under 12”.

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A personal narrative from aboard a Jordanian plane.

India, with over 200 million Muslims, hosts the third-largest Muslim population globally. Despite this, the country’s banking system has largely failed to cater to the community’s specific financial needs. This exclusion isn’t due to a lack of access or equal opportunity, but stems from significant theological differences between Islamic finance principles and the conventional banking system.

Socio-Economic Disparities

The Sachar Committee Report (2006) highlighted the socio-economic backwardness of Muslims in India. Despite constituting about 14% of the population, Muslims held only 7.4% of bank deposits and received just 4.7% of bank credit. This disparity limits their ability to access institutional credit for significant endeavors, such as starting businesses or pursuing higher education, thereby affecting their representation in business and wealth accumulation.

A 2015 analysis by the ET Intelligence Group of the BSE 500 companies further revealed that Muslim representation in director and top executive positions was a mere 2.67%, indicating a significant underrepresentation in corporate leadership.

Further, Muslims hold only 9.2% of gold assets, compared to 31% held by Hindu high castes and 39% by OBCs, highlighting their limited access to collateral for financial transactions.

Theological Foundations of Islamic Finance

Islamic finance is grounded in principles that promote justice, welfare, and ethical economic practices. Central to these principles is the prohibition of ‘riba’ (interest), as it is considered exploitative and unjust.

“Those who consume interest cannot stand [on the Day of Resurrection] except as one stands who is being beaten by Satan into insanity. That is because they say, “Trade is [just] like interest.” But Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest. So whoever has received an admonition from his Lord and desists may have what is past, and his affair rests with Allah. But whoever returns to [dealing in interest or usury] – those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide eternally therein.” [Surah Al-Baqarah: 2;275]

“O you who have believed, do not consume usury, doubled and multiplied, but fear Allah that you may be successful.” [Surah ‘Ali-Imran: 3;130]

Instead, Islamic finance encourages (1) asset-backed transactions:

Narrated by Hakim b. Hizam :  “I asked Messenger of Allah , I said: ‘A man came to me asking to buy something that I did not have. Can I buy it from the market for him and then give it to him?’ He said: ‘Do not sell what is not with you.'” [Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1232]

(2) profit and loss sharing:

Narrated ‘Urwah Al-Bariqi: “The Messenger of Allah gave me on Dinar to purchase a sheep for him. So I purchased two sheeps for him, and I sold one of them for a Dinar. So I returned with the sheep and the Dinar to the Prophet , and I mentioned what had happened and he said: ‘May Allah bless you in your business dealings.’ After that we went to Kunasah in Al-Kufah, and he made tremendous profits. He was among the wealthiest of the people in Al-Kufah.” [Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1258],

and (3) joint ventures, (4) fostering shared responsibility, and (5) economic inclusion.

Wealth in Islam is viewed as a means to promote circulation and mutual support,

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger ﷺ as saying: “Charity does not decrease wealth, no one forgives another except that Allah increases his honor, and no one humbles himself for the sake of Allah except that Allah raises his status.” [Sahih Muslim: 2588]

and not as a commodity to be hoarded.

“O you who have believed, indeed many of the scholars and the monks devour the wealth of people unjustly and avert [them] from the way of Allah. And those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah – give them tidings of a painful punishment.” [Surah at-Tawbah; 9:34]

This approach aims to reduce economic disparities and promote a more equitable society:

Abu Wa’il narrated that Qais bin Abi Gharazah said:

“The Messenger of Allah came to us, and we were what was called ‘brokers,’ he said: ‘O people of trade! Indeed the Shaitan and sin are present in the sale, so mix your sales with charity.'”He said: There are narrations on this topic from Al-Bara’ bin ‘Azib and Rifa’ah.

[Abu ‘Eisa said:] The Hadith of Qais bin Abi Gharazah (a narrator) is a Hasan Sahih Hadith.

Mansur, Al-A’mash, Habib bin Abi Thabit, and others reported it from Abu Wa’il, from Qais bin Abi Gharzah, from the Prophet ﷺ. We do not know of anything from the Prophet ﷺ narrated by Qais other than this. [Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1208]

Legal and Institutional Challenges

The Banking Regulation Act, 1949, forms the backbone of India’s banking system, which is predominantly interest-based. This framework presents challenges for integrating Islamic finance, which operates on principles contrary to interest-based lending.

Various committees have examined the feasibility of Islamic banking in India. The Anand Sinha Committee (2005) deemed it incompatible within the existing legal framework, while the Raghuram Rajan Committee (2008) acknowledged that interest-free banking could provide financial access to excluded communities. However, in 2017, the proposal for Islamic banking was rejected, citing the need for equal opportunities for all citizens.

International Models and Secularism Concerns

Countries like the UK and Germany have implemented faith-based banking models, providing services that align with Islamic principles. Similarly, Muslim-majority nations such as Malaysia and Indonesia have successfully integrated Islamic banks alongside conventional ones, demonstrating that dual systems can coexist.

Critics argue that introducing Islamic banking in India could challenge secularism by creating a parallel economy. However, India already accommodates religious diversity in its economic and legal systems—such as Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) accounts enjoying tax benefits and the operation of Muslim personal law and waqf boards. Therefore, allowing financial models that address the ethical concerns of Muslims may enhance substantive equality without undermining secularism.

Potential Solutions: NBFCs and Cooperative Models

Establishing full-fledged Islamic banks in India faces significant legal and political challenges. However, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) offer a viable alternative. Since NBFCs are not governed by the Banking Regulation Act, they can operate with asset-backed transactions in line with Islamic finance principles. An example is Cheraman Financial Services in Kerala, approved by the Reserve Bank of India in 2013, which provides interest-free financial services.1

Additionally, cooperative models and Islamic banking windows within existing institutions can provide services that align with Islamic principles, fostering economic inclusion and narrowing the participation gap between the Muslim community and others.

Conclusion

The debate on Islamic banking in India underscores a broader tension between a uniform legal framework and the need for economic inclusion of minorities. While establishing full-fledged Islamic banks may be legally and politically challenging, NBFCs, cooperative models, and Islamic banking windows within existing institutions offer feasible alternatives. What is needed is not rejection but regulatory innovation—approaches that can reconcile India’s secular commitments with the financial participation of one of its largest minority communities.

 

Related:

– Perpetual Outsiders: Accounts Of The History Of Islam In The Indian Subcontinent

– Meaningful Money: How Financial Literacy Amplifies Your Giving

 

1    https://prsindia.org/files/policy/policy_committee_reports/1242304423–Summary%20of%20Sachar%20Committee%20Report.pdf

The post Can India’s Financial System Make Room For Faith? appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Deek shops for a house, and has a strange experience in a local gym.

Previous Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13| Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24

* * *

“He who loses himself to gain the world is the poorest of all.” — Saadi Shirazi

Chats And Bad Jokes

He spent the afternoon meeting with other real estate agents. A sweet but soft-hearted mom, then a surfer type with blonde dreads puffing on a vape.

The fourth was the worst. During a meeting with a broad-shouldered, bald broker in khakis, the man asked Deek about his ethnicity. When Deek said he was Arab, the broker joked that, “Anything’s better than a mud hut in the desert, right?” Deek felt his jaw tighten. He wanted to pick up the man’s laptop and throw it against the wall. Instead, he rose, smoothing his blazer. “Go dunk your head in the river.”

He walked out before his temper snapped and he personally drowned the man in the aforementioned river.

Discouraged, he called off the home search for the day. This was the moment when, before last week, he would have gone to a diner and buried his sorrows with a tuna melt and fries along with an ice-cold soda, followed by a slice of apple pie and a scoop of ice cream, or maybe a chocolate malt.

Food And Fortune

And in fact, now that the Namer’s potion had completely dissipated from his system, his desire for junk food, especially sweets, had returned. But the cravings were not as strong as before, and he was able to resist them. And he was motivated to resist them, because he’d noticed that since he’d quit eating junk food, he had more energy, his skin was clearer, and most importantly of all, the humiliating bowel urgency he used to experience was gone.

This brought to mind how he’d soiled himself in the Porsche, and he waved a hand to dismiss the unpleasant memory.

He went to his favorite Chinese restaurant, Imperial Garden on Blackstone near Herndon, and had a plate of grilled fish with braised green beans.

He would have liked to invite Marco for dinner, but his friend was putting him in an impossible position. Marco himself couldn’t afford to eat out, and he wouldn’t let Deek pay. What option did that leave?

As he ate, he kept thinking of that poor girl, Sanaya, lying in a hospital bed in that dim room, half-starved, dying of a rare disease. And here he was, eating a good meal and thinking nothing of it.

Wait – why had he called her Sanaya? The girl’s name was Maryam! Astaghfirullah. La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah.

Appetite gone, he pushed aside the last of the food and broke open the cookie to extract the so-called fortune, which read, “Customer service is like taking a bath: you have to do it again.”

The ridiculousness of it hit Deek like laughing gas, and he burst into a fit of laughter, which halfway through turned into something else. He braced his elbow on the table and covered his face with his hand.

A hand patted his shoulder, and he looked up to see the elderly Chinese waiter, medium height and as skinny as a stalk of bamboo, with thick black hair above a high forehead. “Gonna be okay, mister.”

“What are you talking about?” Deek looked at the man through bleary eyes. “I’m laughing.”

“I know, I know. Food on the house. No charge.”

“What do you mean? I can pay.”

The waiter waggled his hand. “No charge. Everything gonna be okay.”

In the car, Deek wiped his eyes, embarrassed by the emotion that had overtaken him in public. The waiter’s words echoed, simple and absurdly comforting: Everything gonna be okay. Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t. But he was discovering that there was one place he could always retreat, one practice that he could hold on to like a lifeline – salat. He’d been praying a lot more lately, and it was becoming a refuge. Which was something he very much needed.

Help Wanted

Back at the hotel, he prayed, then sat at his computer and transferred two hundred thousand dollars to Dr. Rana’s account. Checking his email, he saw that the man had already sent him scans of medical bills totaling over a million dollars. He didn’t feel comfortable paying such huge sums online or over the phone. He decided that he would see an accountant the next day. He texted Imam Saleh, asking him if he knew a good Muslim accountant.

It occurred to him for the first time that he needed an assistant. He had a lot of money to manage, and letting it sit in cash was not good, as it would be eaten up over time by inflation, taxes, and zakat. He didn’t have time to manage his money, handle these various philanthropic ventures he was getting into, shop for a house, cook healthy meals, and all the other daily necessities of life. In fact, he might need more than one assistant. How did rich people handle this stuff?

A wave of weariness swept over him. He thought that his body, on some inner level, might still be recuperating from the various physical injuries he’d incurred. He took the time to change into pajamas, then lay on his right side on the huge bed, hugged the pillow tightly to his chest, and fell asleep.

Current Of Dreams

He awoke for Maghreb. There was a response from Imam Saleh, with the contact info for a Pakistani accountant named Zakariyya. The man had graduated from Stanford but was still building his customer base. “Might be good to get in on the ground floor with him,” Saleh wrote.

He’d just finished praying when Dr. Rana called.

“Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah, Janab-e-Deek Sahib. I received the money you transferred. I only wanted to say shukriya from the depth of my heart. Your generosity is beyond expectation.”

Deek winced in embarrassment. “You’re welcome, Doctor. I need to see an accountant tomorrow to figure out what method I will use to pay the larger bills, but it will get done soon inshaAllah.”

“You must call me Sajid, please, Mr. Saghir sir.”

“And you should call me Deek. Our daughters are friends.”

“No, I cannot do that, sir. You have lifted a mountain from my shoulders. My daughter, my family, we will make dua’ for you day and night, inshaAllah. Please forgive me for what happened before. I did not know what test I was under. Khuda ap ko salamat rakhe.”

The call with Dr. Rana left Deek feeling sour. He’d chatted with the man a few times in the past, but Rana had never shown him this level of respect, nor displayed any real interest in his life. Suddenly, Deek was worthy of deference bordering on reverence? Why? Because he was rich now? Because he’d given Rana money? Wasn’t he the same man he’d been before? Well – that was life, he supposed. He’d better get used to it.

He paced the suite like a caged tiger. He knew that he had to do something. There was so much going on inside him. Since the Namer’s potion had worn off, loneliness had been rising inside him like flood waters, and now threatened to break the levees that protected his ability to think and work. A tornado of thoughts raged: Rania’s anger and pain, Sanaya’s coldness toward him, the frightening experiences of the last week, Faraz’s tears, the brothers in the masjid surrounding him as if he were a great tree and they were loggers trying to cut him down and pull out his pithy heart.

He remembered his visit to the river recently, and how it had calmed him. Those deep, beautiful waters called to him again. But even he was not crazy enough to go there alone at night.

Rania wasn’t answering his texts. Marco… Deek couldn’t bring himself to call. He pictured his old friend, sitting in that tiny apartment, and felt a wall between them that hadn’t been there before—the thick, invisible wall of Deek’s money.

So he decided to sweat.

Fluid Fitness

He pulled on gym clothes—new ones, tags barely off—and drove a mile down the road to Fluid Fitness, a slick little place he’d noticed in passing, its windows glowing with neon and posters of polished bodies in motion. Their slogan, plastered in chrome letters across the front, read: For People Like Us.

Inside, everything was spotless white and violet, like the interior of a spaceship. The sound system was playing music he didn’t recognize, all synthesized sounds and generic autotuned singing. He walked up to the front desk and asked if he could pay for the day only. The girl at the desk looked about nineteen, all eyeliner and indifference. She looked up from her phone reluctantly and gave Deek a slow up-and-down, lips twitching with something close to pity.

“Are you a bodybuilder?”

“No. I’m just naturally big.”

“We allow walk-ins,” she said, her voice flat as drywall. “Twenty bucks for the day. But…” She tilted her head. “This for reals isn’t the right fit for you. You might prefer Gold’s. They do heavy lifting there.”

Deek leaned on the counter. “I’m not a bodybuilder. And even if I was, so what? This is a gym, right?”

“This is a holistic, inclusive self-improvement environment.” This was a memorized response, Deek was sure.

He put twenty dollars on the counter. “Do I need to sign in?”

She sighed. “Fine. But there are rules.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “No heavy lifting. No grunting. No asking people how many sets they have left. No dropping weights. No, like, dripping. If you sweat, you need to wipe down. Also—no eye contact longer than three seconds. People find that aggressive.”

“I wouldn’t dream of sweating.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “And no sarcasm.”

Deek raised an eyebrow. “Anything else?”

“No protein shakes on the studio floor.”

“I’ll manage,” Deek said, sliding over the twenty.

Pleasure In Pain

It was a small gym, and sparsely populated. The weight rack was lined with pastel dumbbells—three, five, and ten pounds—like Easter eggs in neat rows. The heaviest were twenty, glowing neon yellow. Deek picked them up, feeling like he was curling two bananas.

A kid next to him, crop-top and man-bun, was filming himself with a ring light. “Day twenty of my biceps journey,” he whispered into the phone, curling pink five-pounders. He spotted Deek. “Bro. You’re, like, dominating the space.”

“I’m just lifting,” Deek said.

“Yeah, but your energy is alpha.” The kid winced like it was a slur.

A half hour later, he was on the shoulder press machine. Rules or no rules, he was working hard, moving from one station to the next without pause, and setting the machines on the highest weight settings. Pushing the weights felt good. The dumbbells were obstacles he could move. Concrete goals that he could achieve. His muscles were sore, but he took pleasure in the pain, for the soreness made him feel alive, and humbled him at the same time.

The Wrong Tone

As he completed a heavy bench press set, a slender, thirty-ish man with a clipboard appeared, polo shirt tucked in tight. His name tag identified him as Andrew.

“Sir?” Andrew’s smile was as thin as dental floss. “I’m the manager. You’ll have to leave. You’re setting the wrong tone.”

Deek sat up slowly, breathing hard. “The wrong tone?”

“You’re… intense,” the man said delicately. “Some of our members feel judged.”

Deek laughed. He couldn’t help it. “For lifting weights in a gym?”

“Not a gym. A holistic self-improvement environment.”

“You forgot to mention inclusive.”

The manager’s face reddened. “Yes, of course.”

Deek rested an elbow on his knee, studying the man. Andrew’s appearance was masculine, but there was definitely something effeminate about him. The way he curled his wrists, perhaps.

They really wanted to kick him out. Deek felt a rush of anger. Wanting to mess with the manager, Deek said, “My family came to America as refugees, and now you’re kicking me out of here as well?” Yet even though he’d said the words as a joke, there was truth in them, and the manager picked up on it, because his face went white.

“Oh! You are refugees?”

“From Iraq. My family fled in the middle of the night, one step ahead of the secret police. We hid in a truck with a false wall. We didn’t all – “ Deek paused, his throat tight. “We didn’t all make it.” He cleared his throat, embarrassed. What had started as a joke had turned into a confession.

Andrew put a hand to his chest. “Bless your heart.” Looking around, he clapped his hands and called out, “Gather round, everyone! Group huddle.”

“You don’t have to -” Deek began, but Andrew cut him off with a single finger to Deek’s chest.

The dozen or so patrons, all young men and women, gathered around.

“This is Deek,” Andrew said gravely. “He and his family are refugees. They went through the most awful experiences to get to this country. He might not know how things are done here, but we will make him welcome.”

The young people all nodded. One girl applauded lightly. Mortified beyond belief, Deek stood and said, “I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable. I’ll tone it down.”

The youth making the video offered his hand for a high five and said, “Your English is awesome. Let’s do a collab sometime.”

Deek had been ready to wrap up his workout, but now felt obliged to continue. He did a handful of slow, easy sets. As he was heading out, the girl at the desk handed him a laminated card. “One month free,” she said. “I think you’re so brave.”

In the car, Deek tipped his head back and laughed out loud. Americans would never cease to amaze him. They didn’t seem to know if they wanted to save the world or burn it to the ground. Both, he supposed.

In his hotel room that night, he texted Rania one last time: “We don’t have to be enemies.”

No reply came.

Realtor And Shark

The first thing he did the next morning was to check for messages from Rania or the girls. To his dismay, there were none. He texted the girls, inviting them to lunch tomorrow, which was a Sunday. Amira replied that she was attending her friend Salima’s birthday party. Sanaya simply responded, “No thanks.”

Checking his bank accounts, he saw that Rania had returned $70K of the last $100K he had sent her. He sat back in the desk chair, hands limp in his lap. What did this mean? Was she done with him? He felt like a car that had been drained of gasoline and now sat without spark or impetus.

He moped, then ordered an omelette from room service and ate it as he surveyed the crypto market on his computer. Prices were beginning to decline, though just a little. He knew the decline would accelerate. Many investors would hold firm, thinking it was just a dip. A lot of people would get hammered into poverty.

He needed to move, to do something productive. It was all he knew how to do. Specifically, he still needed to find a house. Like a knight donning his armor, he put on one of his fine suits, stood up straight, and went out.

In the course of his travels that morning, he stepped into an open house almost by accident — a modest property he knew wasn’t right, but it was on the riverfront and worth a look.

Inside, he paused to watch a debate between two real estate agents. The showing agent was a tall, sun-weathered guy in snakeskin boots and a cowboy hat. In front of him, a petite Latina with long black hair in a ponytail, and wearing an expensive-looking gray pantsuit and low heels, was ticking off points in rapid-fire, accented English.

“Your numbers are fantasy, Mister Dorian. The vacancy rate for properties in this price range is double what you claim. Do not insult me.” She snapped her fingers and waved at the house. “You take the deal now, or you’ll sit on this property another year while the weeds grow to your nose hairs.”

The cowboy sputtered, but the woman held up a hand. “Hold on.” She took out her phone, spoke in fast Spanish for a minute, then turned back to the cowboy. “We will increase our bid by three percent. You have twenty-four hours.” She began a rapid exit, heels clicking on the hardwood floor.

This was the agent Deek wanted.

He intercepted her, saying, “Excuse me.”

The woman stopped to look Deek up and down with sharp brown eyes. “I am not the showing agent. I am a buyer’s agent.” She resumed walking.

Deek ran after her. “That’s what I want! I’m a buyer.”

She stopped again and broke into a dazzling smile. “Bueno.” She extended her hand. “Marcela Gómez. Realtor, economist, shark when necessary.”

Fast And Fierce

Standing in the circular driveway, Deek told her what he wanted: privacy, land, something along the San Joaquin River, with actual river access. Something solidly built. The size of the house didn’t matter much, as he could expand it as needed.

“What you ask for is not cheap, Señor Saghir.” She rubbed her fingers together.

“I can pay.”

Marcela nodded briskly. “Leave it with me. I have cousins up and down this valley. In our country, Colombia, you have to be fast and fierce. If there’s a property to be had, they’ll, how do you say, smell it up?”

“Sniff it out.”

“Exacto. And I will get you the best price, even if I have to fight like a gehriyya to do it.”

“What’s a gehriyya?”

“You know. A fighter.”

“Oh. A guerrilla?”

“Gorilla is an animal, no?”

Deek smiled, restraining a laugh. “Don’t worry about the price. I just want a property that meets my needs, quickly.”

Marcela tilted her head. “Oh, money is not an object? Are you authorized to make that call?”

“It’s for me. I’m the buyer.”

Family Office

“Ah, bueno. Just that high net worth individuals usually leave such things to the family office.”

“What’s a family office?”

Marcela pulled back, looking him up and down. “You are only recently wealthy?”

“Yeah. Why?”

Marcela checked her phone, then looked up at Deek as if surprised he was still there. “I am a real estate agent,” she said. “Not a finance instructor. Are you serious about buying a house or no?”

“Yes, I am. But could you please explain the family office thing? Humor me.”

She sighed. “Very wealthy families do not personally manage their finances. They have a family office, which is basically their own company, run by experts who work only for them.”

Deek considered this, rubbing his chin. “You’ve seen this before?”

“Claro que sí. I have a degree in international finance, and I worked in such an office for one of the flower families. You think the sugar dynasties in Cali or the oil families in Medellín run around calling realtors and accountants one by one? You, Señor Saghir, are operating like a man with one hundred thousand dollars, not however many of the millions you have.” She waved her hand up and down to indicate Deek and his fine suit.

Deek nodded slowly. “What kind of people would run an office like that?”

“The Chief Investment Officer. An office manager, real estate director, security officer, a personal CFO to handle family matters, and so on. A lawyer, unless you hire an outside firm. Sometimes a, how do you say, filantropia director.”

“Philanthropy. Wow. That’s a lot of people. I would want people who know how to invest according to Islamic guidelines. No interest, no stocks related to gambling, alcohol, and so on.”

“Pues, I’m sure you can find such people in your countries, like Dubai. And that’s the end of the finance lesson. D – Y – O – R.” She punctuated each letter with a snap of her fingers.

He didn’t bother telling her that Dubai was not a country. They parted ways with the understanding that Marcela would call him when she found a house.

***

Come back next week for Part 26 inshaAllah

 

Reader comments and constructive criticism are important to me, so please comment!

See the Story Index for Wael Abdelgawad’s other stories on this website.

Wael Abdelgawad’s novels – including Pieces of a Dream, The Repeaters and Zaid Karim Private Investigator – are available in ebook and print form on his author page at Amazon.com.

Related:

Day Of The Dogs, Part 1 – Tiny Ripples Of Hope

Searching for Signs of Spring: A Short Story

 

The post Moonshot [Part 25] – Save The World Or Burn It Down appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

October is Islamic History Month in Canada, federally recognized since 2007 as an opportunity to “to celebrate, inform, educate, and share with fellow Canadians the rich Muslim heritage and contributions to society.” This year’s theme is “Pioneering Muslim Communities in Canada,” learning about and giving homage to those in our communities who first established Islam in these lands. From small islands to sprawling urban centers, every Muslim community in Canada started with at least one person who believed in Allah and created space for fellow believers to come together and build upwards.

In addition to the pioneering history of Muslims in Canada, we must consider more recent history as well: the realities of Muslims in a post-9/11 world, contending with the surveillance state, illegal detention and torture, and ongoing harassment of Muslims in Canada. Figures such as Maher Arar and Omar Khader must have their stories remembered, and lessons learned from, on just how fraught our existence as Muslims in Canada truly is. The work of people like Monia Mazigh must never be forgotten, as it is the work that so many of us will need to draw from in our own confrontations with state-led Islamophobia.

 – Journey of the Midnight Sun by Shazia Afzal

In 2010, a Winnipeg-based charity raised funds to build and ship a mosque to Inuvik, one of the most northern towns in Canada’s Arctic. A small but growing Muslim community there had been using a cramped trailer for their services, but there just wasn’t enough space. The mosque travelled over 4,000 kilometers on a journey fraught with poor weather, incomplete bridges, narrow roads, low traffic wires, and a deadline to get on the last barge heading up the Mackenzie River before the first winter freeze.

This stunning picture book makes the perfect Islamic History Month storytime choice!

– Minarets on the Horizon by Murray Hogben

This book gives us a detailed look at the Muslim presence in Canada, starting with the pioneer settlers from Syria/Lebanon and the Balkans in the early twentieth century and moving on to the more modern midcentury arrivals from South Asia and Africa. Told in their own words, the stories in this collection give us a rare insight into the lives of these pioneer Muslims.

Punjabi men in the timber mills of British Columbia; Lebanese Arab peddlers on foot or horse cart on the rural highways of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba; men venturing north on dog sleighs to trade for fur; young women arriving to start families and soon to become family matriarchs; shopkeepers serving small provincial towns and big cities; and finally, students and professionals arriving in the postwar urban centres.

Wherever they went, they bore the brunt of xenophobia and acknowledged kindnesses, as they adapted and sought out fellow worshippers and set up community centres and mosques.

– Al-Rashid Mosque: Building Canadian Muslim Communities by Earle H. Waugh

Al Rashid Mosque, Canada’s first and one of the earliest in North America, was erected in Edmonton in the depths of the Depression of the 1930s. Over time, the story of this first mosque, which served as a magnet for more Lebanese Muslim immigrants to Edmonton, was woven into the folklore of the local community.

Edmonton’s Al Rashid Mosque has played a key role in Islam’s Canadian development. Founded by Muslims from Lebanon, it has grown into a vibrant community fully integrated into Canada’s cultural mosaic. The mosque continues to be a concrete expression of social good, a symbol of a proud Muslim Canadian identity. Al Rashid Mosque provides a welcome introduction to the ethics and values of homegrown Muslims. The book traces the mosque’s role in education and community leadership and celebrates the numerous contributions of Muslim Canadians in Edmonton and across Canada.

– How Muslims Shaped the Americas by Omar Mouallem

In How Muslims Shaped the Americas, Mouallem explores the unknown history of Islam across the Americas, traveling to thirteen unique mosques in search of an answer to how this religion has survived and thrived so far from the place of its origin. From California to Quebec, and from Brazil to Canada’s icy north, he meets the members of fascinating communities, all of whom provide different perspectives on what it means to be Muslim. Along this journey, he comes to understand that Islam has played a fascinating role in how the Americas were shaped—from industrialization to the changing winds of politics.

Despite my distaste with the author himself, this book does an excellent job of exploring both Al-Rashid Masjid and the Midnight Sun Mosque (the very same one from the picture book!), as well as pausing to pay homage to the victims and survivors of the Quebec City Mosque Massacre in Grande Mosquee de Quebec.

– Hope & Despair: My Struggle to Free My Husband, Maher Arar by Monia Mazigh

This book traces the inspiring story of Monia Mazigh’s courageous fight to free her husband, Maher Arar, from a Syrian jail. From the moment Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, was disappeared into the bowels of Bashar al-Assad’s dungeons, Monia Mazigh worked tirelessly against the Canadian government, security intelligence agencies, and media to bring her husband home and get him justice.

She began a tireless campaign to bring public attention and government action to her husband’s plight, eventually resulting in his release and return to Canada. Arar and Mazigh’s story is a chilling reminder to all Canadian Muslims of the realities of living under systemic Islamophobia, and is an important lesson to us all on resisting and holding our government accountable.

– Systemic Islamophobia in Canada: A Research Agenda

Systemic Islamophobia in Canada presents critical perspectives on systemic Islamophobia in Canadian politics, law, and society, and maps areas for future research and inquiry. The authors consist of both scholars and professionals who encounter in the ordinary course of their work the – sometimes banal, sometimes surprising – operation of systemic Islamophobia. Centring the lived realities of Muslims primarily in Canada, but internationally as well, the contributors identify the limits of democratic accountability in the operation of our shared institutions of government

– Under Siege: Islamophobia and the 9/11 Generation by Jazmine Zine

Under Siege explores the lives of Canadian Muslim youth belonging to the 9/11 generation as they navigate these fraught times of global war and terror. While many studies address contemporary manifestations of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism, few have focused on the toll this takes on Muslim communities, especially among younger generations.

Covering topics such as citizenship, identity and belonging, securitization, radicalization, campus culture in an age of empire, and subaltern Muslim counterpublics and resistance, Under Siege provides a unique and comprehensive examination of the complex realities of Muslim youth in a post-9/11 world.

This Islamic History Month, Canadian Muslim communities should take the time to honour our pioneering members, teach our youth about the Islamic history of Canadian Muslims, and educate ourselves on how to navigate living in this country that remains riddled with systemic Islamophobia.

 

Related:

From the MuslimMatters Bookshelf: Black (Muslim) History Month Reads

Muslim Women’s History: A Book List

The post Islamic History Month Canada: A Bookish Roundup appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Jeremy Scahill gives insight from resistance negotiators and stresses need for ongoing activism. Donya Abu Sitta in Gaza on hopes after genocide. Fighters blowing up a tank inside a new Israeli base.

Judge says Hamit Coskun has ‘right to offend’ and overturns conviction for religiously aggravated public order offence

A man who was fined for setting fire to a Qur’an outside the Turkish consulate in London has won an appeal against his conviction after a judge backed his “right to offend”.

Hamit Coskun was found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence in June after shouting “fuck Islam” and “Islam is religion of terrorism” while burning the holy book in February.

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Israel escalated attacks as a ceasefire edged closer, killing more than 120 Palestinians in four days.

[Author’s Note: In October of 2023, Israel launched a genocide against Gaza. On October 13, Al Jazeera mentioned in a news article that ice cream trucks were being used as makeshift morgues due to the overwhelming numbers of deceased people needing a place to be buried.]

 

     In the summer, your mother throws open the windows of your little house, the breeze playing with the thin curtains, creating flowery ghosts. The tinkling music of the ice cream truck floats in, making you perk up like the housecat seeing a bird.

     You run outside, your sister following suit, her small legs never letting her catch up unless you slow down—but you don’t, not until you are behind the truck and the dry dust burns your eyes, not until it stops and the man inside leans out to greet the gaggle of children now gathering around the truck.

     While you wait in line, an airplane flies by. You flinch, but she waves at it. She hasn’t learned what you had to, and you hope, stupidly, that she never does. 

     You hand her the ice cream before grabbing your own. You want to savour yours for as long as possible, until it’s dripping down your arm in sticky rivulets that your mother will get annoyed at, but you know your sister will devour hers and ask for yours.

 

     She’s learning to draw. 

     She wants your crayons, and your mother makes you share. You whine, but nothing changes, so you hand her some paper and tell her to keep quiet. For a few minutes, it stays so, her stubby fingers gripping the wax as she drags it across the page, fascinated by the transfer. 

     When you’re engrossed in drawing your own landscape— your grandparents’ olive trees, in the village you visit every few weeks— she hits your arm hard enough to send a stray crayon streak across the paper. When you look up to yell, she shows you a paper— two stick figures sharing ice cream. She tells you that you’re the taller one. You laugh. My skin isn’t orange.

     You keep the drawing in your closet.

 

     You have a sister. 

     She plays with the neighbourhood girls on the roof every evening, till the Maghreb adhan calls them back inside. She wraps a headscarf halfway across her head and stands behind you and your dad as you pray. Your mother tries to fix it. It doesn’t stay. 

     When you’re praying for everything you want— safety, for yourself and your parents and the olive trees and those that care for them— she says, ya Allah, please let me own an ice cream truck when I’m old. 

     You laugh, but an Ameen still follows. 

 

     You have a sister. 

     Someone picks on her for her pigtails—someone from your grade. Your dad tells you nothing except that you are her brother. It’s your job to protect her. 

     The principal calls your dad the next day— Bruised knuckles and a bloody nose. Your dad says, he was protecting her. Should he not?

     He buys you both ice cream on the way home. 

 

     You have a sister. 

     She cries when the first bomb hits, and the second, and the third. 

     She throws up when you pull the cat out of the rubble, a bright red gash across its abdomen. It mewls pathetically, barely skin and bones, and you have to fight the urge to cry— boys don’t cry, especially not in front of their little sisters. You hold the cat close to your chest, caressing what’s left of her spotted fur, for which you’d named her Cow. 

 

     You have a sister.

     She stopped crying an hour ago, fast asleep now. Your mother drapes a white sheet on her, trying to hide her hiccups. She always hiccups when she cries. Your sister does the same. 

     The night air bites your skin, but you just climbed out of what used to be your room, and your blanket is still somewhere under all of it. You want to share your sister’s sheet, but she is much colder, and she’s hogging it up. 

     She hit her head under all the rubble, you’re sure of it. You tell your dad that he should wake her up. Shouldn’t we take her to the doctor?

     The tinkling music of the ice cream truck pierces the silence. You startle, mouth watering— an ingrained response. Baba, are we getting ice cream? Usually, your mother would not let you eat sweets before dinner, but you haven’t had dinner in days.

     The truck stops, and the ice cream man steps out, face grim and dusted with gray. Your dad gets up, wrapping the sheet tighter around your sister. They begin moving her. 

 

     You had a sister. 

     In the summers, you’d run after the ice cream truck, her far behind you, and you’d call the man inside by his name. You’d hand her the first cone so she wouldn’t complain, and you’d finish yours off first so she wouldn’t ask for it. She would pray with her scarf halfway off her head, and she’d pray to own an ice cream truck someday. 

 

     You had a sister.
     She will wake up on top of soft grass, a blanket of sunlight over her skin. She will wake to tinkling laughter and the sound of a flowing river. She will find the friends she cried over, and the cat she fed every day, feeding him even when her stomach rumbled. She won’t remember the smell of blood, the cold of nights spent under open skies, waiting for the next bomb, or pain that blossomed in a body not strong enough for it. But she will remember you. 

     And she’ll wait to share ice cream with you again.

 

Related:

– A Prayer On Wings: A Poem Of Palestinian Return

– If You Could Speak: A Poem

The post Ice Cream: A Poem On The Loss Of Childhood In Gaza appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Four people have so far been arrested as part of police investigation into attack in East Sussex, which caused ‘significant damage’

Police have made further arrests over an arson attack on a mosque in East Sussex.

The building in Phyllis Avenue, Peacehaven was badly damaged by the fire at about 9.50pm on Saturday. Nobody was injured, but police said “significant damage” was caused to the front of the building and a nearby vehicle.

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Shaista Gohir says latest government figures are probably an ‘underestimation’ as many incidents go unreported

The head of a leading UK Muslim charity has said she is “deeply worried” about the unprecedented levels of anxiety in the community as government data shows hate crimes against Muslims are up by nearly a fifth.

Shaista Gohir, the cross-bench peer and head of the Muslim Women’s Network has criticised ministers for being “silent” and called for a public government response to figures which she believes to be “an underestimation”.

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There's growing proof that Israeli intelligence played a role in the assassination.

Our roots to our land keep us upright after bloody blows.

The occupation’s latest attacks forced many south, but my family made the trip north, to our home.