By Annisa Essack 26:06:2019   Today is the second day of the “Peace to Prosperity” Workshop in Manama, organised by the Trump administration as part of the Middle East peace plan. In a bitter twist of irony, Bahrain has regularly stamped out dissent with arbitrary detention, censorship, and torture has been selected to host a workshop on peace to prosperity. Foreign and independent journalists are rarely allowed access to Bahrain and...

    By Naseerah Nanabhai 20:06:2019   Firstly it is important to determine the difference between confidence and arrogance. How would you analyse the difference, because there is a fine line between the two? A Muslim should rid himself from arrogance. Arrogance, vanity and conceit are negative qualities. These negative traits present themselves in various ways. Those that have been afflicted by it have been cursed. No person who has even an atom’s weight...

  Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News - 24-06-2019 (Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)   Esteemed Islamic scholar Ml Sulaiman Moola says withdrawing from committing sins is an act of worship. Ml Moola was rendering a lecture about how the younger and even some older generation of people indulge in acts that have the potential to destroy faith. Ml Moola, using the example of the story of the seven sleepers in Surah Kahf, says there is much virtue in abstaining...

  By Annisa Essack 21/06/2019 Despite the fact that he suffers from leukaemia and lives in the blockaded Gaza Strip, 12-year-old, Mahmoud Abu Nada says that he wants to be the best chef in the world. He may be unknown to the world but Mahmoud has become the first child-chef in Palestine and works regularly in one of Gaza’s most well-known restaurants. Mahmoud was diagnosed with blood cancer at the age of 8, and physicians determined he needed a...

  By Annisa Essack 14:06:2019 April saw Sudanese citizens overthrew dictator Omar al-Bashir, who ruled for 30 years and was previously indicted for war crimes and genocide in Darfur. After the ousting of al-Bashir, military leaders claimed they would support democracy and reportedly came up with a plan to share political power with the Sudanese people. However, one of the main differences between the military leaders and the Sudanese...

  By Mumtaz Saley   With 7 days left of this beautiful month, I have had the most unexpected miracles happen. I’m glad I have opened myself to the changes I have experienced recently and more importantly, that I have accepted change. I’m now dressing more conservatively with my goal being to please my Lord and I’ve learnt to balance my time better to ensure that I make pray and converse with Him too. I have found Allah, and in doing so realised...

  By Mumtaz Saley Wow, we’ve reached the 22nd fast and I can’t help but feel sad as the blessed month is coming to an end. Alhumdulillah, I had, stumbled, upon someone who was in dire need of our help and who lived close by but who was also completely overlooked by the community. During my attendance at some of the community functions, I had seen an older woman who was very helpful, polite and very much to herself. Little did I know that she had...

  By Mumtaz Saley Today is an amazing day as I get ready for Fajr after Suhoor, Ahmed and I take a moment to sit by the fire and just talk. Usually, we wait for the 20th fast to distribute our zakat so I knew what the chat was about. “Sabreen, do you know of any families within our community that needs the zakat? Maybe a family that’s struggling to put food on their table?” Ebrahim asked. “Ahmed, do you think anyone living in our suburb is in...

  By Mumtaz Saley   Nothing was going as planned today, Mohammed was at home, sick with the flu, Amina was miserable as she too seemed to be getting ill, Ahmed had gone to work but had been complaining about feeling under the weather too. I baked and well, that too just flopped! Just as I was ready to pack it all in, Uncle Abdul appeared. He gave me that knowing look and asked me to sit down with him for a bit. “You know Sabreen, you’re feeling...