Do you remember reading the series Chicken Soup for the Soul? Well, this week has been a full of literal chicken soup and mostly take out from my favorite restaurant Rose’s Pizza in Edison. The Spiral of Sickness In the beginning, only the four year old was sick. For almost a month, he coughed and…
Bismillah, a Fresh Start
I’ve written about homeschooling because it has been such an integral part of our lifestyle for the past few years. The decision to homeschool meant a lot of sacrifices. Primarily we made an investment of time, energy, and effort into the kids, ensuring that they had a broad range of experiences and opportunities. I never…
Starting at Zero
Eid al Adha is a holiday synonymous with sacrifice. According to the Quranic story, God asks Ibrahim (AS) to sacrifice his son. Ibrahim is willing to make the sacrifice. God sees that he is willing, and replaces the child with a lamb. Lasting three to four days, and celebrated by millions of Muslims worldwide, the…
A Family like No Other
You can be with people who speak your language but totally not heard. You can be with people who look like you, share all your identity markers but totally feel invisible. You can be with people who share your genes, but they seem further away than strangers. You can be with people who dress differently,…
The Cemetery on Eid Day
On the beautiful day of Eid ul Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, I went to the cemetery with my family. We went to the morning prayers, ate ice cream and sweets, took family photos, visited relatives throughout the day, and I even got a fabulous photo with my coop sisters who I had the…
Days 29 & 30: Gratitude for Duas
For a few years, I have been compiling Duas into a google doc. Dua means supplication or prayer. It is a form of worship, like an open love letter to God. I see a lot of beautiful duas and I wanted to express deep gratitude for this particular one written by Imam Khalid Latif. His…
Days 24, 25, 26, 27: Sight, Hearing, Taste, Touch
Time has squished together during the last 10 nights of Ramadan. And so, my post today squishes together many blessings into a single post. When you abstain from seeing things that you shouldn’t see, hearing things you shouldn’t hear, eating the foods you normally love, and touching things you shouldn’t touch during the month of…
Ramadan Day 23: Role of Parent
The following post was drafted outside of Ramadan. It contains way too many syllables and words to be written by someone sleeping 3 hours a night during the last ten nights of Ramadan. — The 12+ inches of snow have melted into deep puddles and soaked earth. We all wear our rain boots and splash…
Day 22: Gratitude for The Book
During the month of Ramadan, I fast from reading any fiction. I do not write fiction or write fiction. I do not consume fiction in any form. Whatever time I have, I read the Quran. To get through 30 chapters, 600+ pages is not easy in 30 days. But I can read 800+ pages of…
Ramadan Day 21: Dear Daughter
Dear Daughter Earlier this year I wrote a piece titled Dear Son. Here is the accompaniment to that. This weekend you recited two suras I could barely read. You did it from memory in a gathering of 100 adults and kids, You fasted an entire day. You write stories, and make plays. You picked out…
Ramadan Day 18: Sisterhood
On my daughter’s birthday — or as we say, my day of giving birth — a group of amazing mom friends came to celebrate a milestone with my daughter. In our tradition, at age 7, she begins to learn to pray. It doesn’t technically count until she reaches puberty, but the habit of prayer begins,…
Ramadan Day 17: Infinite Shukr
Today my eldest turned 7. My child is the reason I became a mother. The answer to a lifetime of duas. The reason I have inherited the most beautiful title of “ma.” My intention is only to inspire others to do some good today. Please consider giving sadaqa or zakat to this wonderful local …
Ramadan Day 16: Ladies Night at the Masjid
“Last night was a gift” my friend and neighbor Kai said. Kai, who runs a business Split Moon Publications and leads the Bismillah Coop, drove us to the ultimate ladies’ night. A night, turned into day, time at the masjid. In fact, we are grateful to say we completed umrah together. I had the distinct…
Ramadan Day 12: Gratitude for Teaching
“A virtuous intention is the source of all goodness,” my teacher says. More than the act, more than its impact or the results, the intention itself is what must be pure. My intention in our homeschooling journey is to foster love, and nurture and preserve the kids’ fitra. That has been our intention from the…
Ramadan Day 9: Gratitude for a Fixed Dishwasher
I never planned to write about my dishwasher during Ramadan. It is not a person, or an animate thing. I mean, who thinks to thank the dishwasher? One of my goals is to write everyday, and this practice means that some days I have to think about the obvious. In the span of a day,…
Ramadan Day 7: Gratitude for Ma
This might be my kids first iftaar with my parents. The immense blessing of this is so real. My husband is away. I drive. The two hours to New York City doesn’t seem like it’s far enough to be away from my mother. For most of my adult life, I accepted her warning, “Don’t come…
Ramadan Day 5: Gratitude for Bismillah Cooperative
Wednesdays are co-op days at my friend’s house. A cooperative of 10 families come together each week to teach and play with the kids. I discovered this group during a global pandemic when most people retreated into their own inner circles. My circle expanded, somehow. I’m grateful for finding a tribe of moms who “get…
Ramadan Day 4: Gratitude for a Farm
Tuesdays are Farm Days in our household. We make the 45 min drive to a working farm where the kids take environmental science classes that teach them things that I have no knowledge of whatsoever. For example today, F learned about how to make shelter with sticks and leaves. Up until my 30s, I didn’t…
Day 3 – Ramadan 1443 / 2022
Gratitude for Neighbors Having a kind, good neighbor is a blessing. Having multiple kind neighbors is another level. For about 15 years, I have lived within the same 2 mile radius. When I lived with my in-laws, I almost never saw anyone on their block, even in the summer. People had privacy fences, and I…
Day 2: Gratitude for a Home
I am grateful for a place to live. For the first 6 years of my marriage, I lived in my in laws’ home. When my mother in law first showed me through their house, the morning after the wedding, I asked politely, did you just move in? She said, no we’ve lived here for more…
First Day of Ramadan 1443/ 2022
Today was the first day of Ramadan. The kids and I finished putting up decorations, baked mochi cakes, and cooked a Gujarati sponge cake that my my father in law taught me how to make. I managed to take a class on parenting (thank God for Zoom), listen to a women’s recitation, and stop by…
Coffee or Marriage?
My coffee date turned out to be the beginning of a 17-year marriage. “Will you be my valentine’s?” I texted him first. I waited for the dots on my phone. It was Saturday, February 11. We had met for the first time the day before. Will you be my boyfriend before we get married? Can…
Reflection on Falah
This summer, I finished a class on Falah (success in Arabic) with Rabata, a women’s seminary that teaches women islamic scholarship. I joined 100 women 3 times a week with a shared goal to be better than we were before. The class is described as an all-new approach to successful and happy living, specifically as…
Homeschooling vs. Traditional School
My reflections and reservations on homeschooling and public school.
Transforming Habits
What does spending time with a best friend you only see once a year look like? Reflections on Ramadan 2021.
Vacation of Ramadan 2021
I used to think that the only time to do things that I love is on vacation. On vacation, I walk a lot. I exercise. I eat lots of salads and do “fun” things. In new places, I seek out things to do using Google Maps. I always make time to write and read. On…
The Covid Circle or the One about Friends
You are the source of peace. Our friends are but a reminder. During Covid-19, like most people, we have experienced moments of isolation. There are moments of seclusion. There is a feasting and fasting from company. So much of why husband-wife divorce is so high is that women often try to get their husbands to…
Start Here
Hello, my name is Sadia. I’m glad you stopped by. A little about me – I grew up in a loving home with my Abbu and Ma and brother. I studied philosophy in college and surprisingly as an adult, I have struggled to make philosophy applicable to my daily life. As a child I loved…
Sadia Kalam 