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The Key to Infinite Doors
“This is the month of generosity,” I told my son when he refused to share some food he had brought back from iftar at his school. “But yesterday you said it was the month of the Quran,” thoughtful and genuine — though partly, I suspect, to playfully dismantle my point. I think my takeaway was…
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Empire’s Desperate Chokehold
People don’t become zealous without good reason. Fanaticism is born of years of deprivation, years of rights being systematically trampled, and years of watching others live comfortable lives while being indoctrinated to believe they are lesser beings. The colonial projects spanning centuries across the world have been demonstrations of unadulterated raw power concentrated in the…
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He Loves Me
I am struggling to find the balance between adopting technology that causes ease versus what breeds dependence. Our reliance on natural means of life is diminishing at an accelerated rate, making our bodies and minds weaker, easing the path to relying on paths laid out for us by other flawed human beings and dulling our…
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The Vigilante’s Burden
After having my second child, I realized that my emotional competence had limits. As he grew older, I began understanding that every child requires a different parent. Having two children meant that I needed to have two versions of myself. Not only were they two unique individuals, the gender difference further broadened the range of…
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Log Kya Kahengey? (What Will People Say?)
“Log Kya Kahengey?” is a clichéd expression overused in Urdu/Hindi-speaking households. It has shaped much of who we are as a community. As I grew older I realized that this phrase has its own local variations across communities worldwide. We are taught to fear the opinions of people. On the whole, this phrase and its…
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Your Only Competitor
I’ve always prided myself on being good at reading people—whether through facial cues, exaggerated gestures, or subtle shifts in tone. Whether this is a natural gift or a skill I’ve fine-tuned over the years, I’m honestly not sure. But I’m confident in my ability to sense how others are feeling. It might also be true…
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Beyond Happiness
Of all of the things I am grateful to Allah for, the one I am most thankful for is my sense of reason and cognition. I also like to believe—although I suppose people around me would be better able to tell—that Allah has given me a fair share of wisdom. The wisdom that Allah has…
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The Healing Paradox
Based on my personal experience as a mother, caregiver to the elderly, and witness to chronic kidney, liver, and intestinal diseases running through my family, I can confidently assert that modern medical science has regressed rather than progressed in several critical areas. The first conspicuous indicator is the relentless emergence of new diseases, each bearing…
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Outgrow Us
My husband and I always tell our children that they need to grow taller than us. Neither of us is short, but the directive serves as deliberate goal-setting—encompassing nutrition, rest, physical activity, and measured screen exposure. The aspiration is simultaneously literal and metaphorical: to surpass us in every dimension of existence. Parents are frequently accused…
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Challenging Divine Sovereignty
To commit murder is calamitous, regardless of the reason. I assume it would kill a part of you simultaneously. Your heart probably. Maybe your conscience. It begins to darken your soul. When you get used to it, God forbid, the stabs at your heart punctures with less force each time. The dying of your conscience…
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Farheen Anwar 