What makes it so hard to keep resolutions? Is it ingrained patterns of behaviour that are hard to change? Is it that the desire for comfort and pleasure keeps trumping the ungraspable desire to be a better, fitter, more successful version of ourselves? Or is it the desire to escape pain and discomfort which we…
Dystopia and doom This year has had a distinctly dystopian feel. As the past year flashes through my mind, it’s hard not to feel despondent. With the earth feeling like a train hurtling and careering off the edge of a cliff, one wonders what exactly we should be celebrating and what we have to look…
As Allah stated in the Quran in Surat Anfal: وَإِذۡ يَمۡكُرُ بِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لِيُثۡبِتُوكَ أَوۡ يَقۡتُلُوكَ أَوۡ يُخۡرِجُوكَۚ وَيَمۡكُرُونَ وَيَمۡكُرُ ٱللَّهُۖ وَٱللَّهُ خَيۡرُ ٱلۡمَٰكِرِينَ And ˹remember, O Prophet,˺ when the disbelievers conspired to capture, kill, or exile you. They planned, but Allah also planned. And Allah is the best of planners. (8:30) This ayah…
Racism rears its ugly head It is sadly ironic that the marches protesting the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, which have been ongoing for the last 10 months were dubbed “hate marches” by a certain British politician. Ironic firstly because they were marches of compassion, highlighting the tragic loss of lives, dreams and futures,…
As the world’s eyes turned to Paris for the opening ceremony of the Olympics in anticipation – what would France, which prides itself on its style, values, and history, display to the world? How would it showcase its renowned talent and creativity when it had the world’s attention? By most accounts, as a grotesque spectacle….
As we continue to seethe with anger at the hypocrisy and the silence over the appalling genocide in Gaza, we are seeing people who are blind, deaf, and dumb just as the Quran described. Their hearts are so shrouded with darkness that they watch the horrors devoid of empathy. صُمُّۢ بُكۡمٌ عُمۡیࣱ فَهُمۡ لَا یَرۡجِعُونَ …
سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ “Glory be to Him, Who took His servant during the night from the Sacred House to the farthest mosque of which We have blessed the precincts, so that We may show to him some…
Assembly for primary school children on being kind and generous during Ramdan. Download the powerpoint presentation here:
Delivered 2018.
The dangers of anger, and Islam’s tips to control it.
Delivered 2013.
Discussing the harms of backbiting, and the seriousness of the sin.
Delivered 2014.
How God created the world in balance, and how we should implement balance in our lives
Delivered 2013.
What Islam says about beauty, and the importance of internal vs external beauty
Delivered 2012.
A more detailed explanation of what charity means in Islam. Includes many useful hadith and ayat about charity
Delivered 2017.
The importance of empathy, and how a lack of empathy can be damaging for groups of people and wider society. Examples of empathy in nature.
Delivered 2016.
Personal reflections on Hajj, and the impact it has on your life.