ن وَالْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ "Nun. By the pen, and what they are writing." [68:1] I am standing inside a used-bookstore. It is extremely hot. A bracket fan installed up in one corner spews out bursts of humid air. Beads of perspiration slowly roll down my back as my eyes minutely scan the shelves, up … Continue reading Books that Impacted Me as a Teenager: Confessions of a Bibliophage
Tag: homeschooling
If a person, of any age, showed immunity to the prevalent rat-race culture fueled by this oversharing of information with others i.e. they refused to get sucked in by the trend of being obsessed with who just did or acquired what, and vice versa, they were considered weird or outcast.
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بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْم The thing with being a writer is, that you evolve with time: your thoughts, writing style, and even priorities, keep changing. I suppose that is true for every aspect of life: the only thing constant in life is change. As a homeschooling parent who also likes to write, I keep growing … Continue reading The Clouds Parted and “the Son” Shone Through….
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ Perhaps you have been wondering where/how I am? And, maybe why/to where I seem to have disappeared? Why you are seeing less of me? Yes, I will admit, things in my life are different now. However, this change did not happen overnight. Life has a way of throwing surprises at you. … Continue reading Standing on a Bridge, Aspiring to New Vistas
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ What does being a niqabi, an unschooling parent, living in culturally-rigid Pakistan, not being able to people-please and sweet-talk my way into and out of superficial, culturally-enforced social conversations, and being a work-from-home, freelancing housewife make a woman? Answer: a Majorly Misunderstood Misfit. But, in order to answer this question in … Continue reading The Fruits of Unschooling: Better a Misunderstood Misfit, Than a Cultural Conformist
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ Many, if not most of us, try to 'get it right' in life. We want the right mix of blessings, experiences, relationships, and possessions, which will grant us a happy life in this world and the next. Yet, the delusive nature of the life of this world sometimes make us live … Continue reading Getting it “Just Right”: The Components of Wisdom
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَانِ الرَّحِيمِ Ever since I discovered the hadith below, I have prayed to Allah to always bless me with the 'upper hand' - الْيَدَ الْعُلْيَا - in the life of this world: لأَنْ يَغْدُوَ أَحَدُكُمْ فَيَحْتَطِبَ عَلَى ظَهْرِهِ فَيَتَصَدَّقَ مِنْهُ فَيَسْتَغْنِيَ بِهِ عَنِ النَّاسِ خَيْرٌ لَهُ مِنْ أَنْ يَسْأَلَ رَجُلاً أَعْطَاهُ أَوْ مَنَعَهُ … Continue reading Become a Giver: Have the “Upper Hand”
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَانِ الرَّحِيمِ Success: a lot is said, written, and taught today about how to achieve it in life. For most if not all human beings, becoming successful in life is a top priority. But before I begin talking about it too, first I would like to wonder out loud what exactly success means … Continue reading 4 Childhood Indicators of Future Success
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ Misunderstood. Put on the spot. Challenged. Quizzed in public. That is how I find myself feeling more and more often as an homeschooling unschooling parent, now that my children are older and meeting more people in social settings. People are usually all praise for their demeanor and behavior, until the bomb … Continue reading Parents, Can We Stop Judging Each Other?
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ
I was recently interviewed at WordMothers.com, a blog that showcases female authors, word artists, and book industry professionals.
Interview by Nicole Melanson ~
Sadaf Farooqi is a freelance writer of Islamic non-fiction and a homeschooling mother of 3, based in Karachi, Pakistan. She has a postgraduate Masters degree in Computer Science and a diploma in Islamic education.
Sadaf runs a personal blog called Sadaf’s Space, and currently writes professionally for OnIslam.net. In the past, she has written for Hiba Magazine, SISTERS Magazine, Saudi Gazette and MuslimMatters.org. Some of Sadaf’s articles on marriage have been published as a book titled Traversing the Highs and Lows of Muslim Marriage.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED AS A WRITER?
In 2006, I found myself staying at home with my first baby. Often, I’d Google solutions to first-time-mommy-related challenges and problems, only to land on and read personal blogs penned by experienced mothers. So I ended up reading many articles and blogs in my spare…
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ A group of young women makes its way inside a bustling cafe. They choose a table and make themselves comfortable on the cushioned chairs around it, chattering. When the time for placing their order comes, one of the young women orders a grilled chicken sandwich with a garden salad on the … Continue reading Homeschooling Children: Accepting Their Individuality, Letting Them Grow
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ Every human being is unique. What a precious gift of Allah this uniqueness is! It enables each one of us to use our exclusive set of talents and abilities, to acquire our own little pool of knowledge, through our own distinct style of learning, and to weave our own "one-of-a-kind yarn" … Continue reading Define the “Qur’an Vision” For Your Family
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ To continue from where I left off last month at the end of Part 1 of this post, I want to point out how and why letting your children learn mostly via play and not through structured lessons and classes for the first 10-12 years of their lives is not "crazy". … Continue reading “Unschooling” Update and Frequently Asked Questions – Part 2
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ It has been very long since I blogged about and provided an update on our homeschooling journey. The third addition to our family was a huge blessing in disguise, because the lull it introduced into our till-then, by-and-large structured, curriculum-based, and parent-driven model of homeschooling, paved the way for a smooth … Continue reading “Unschooling” Update and Frequently Asked Questions – Part 1
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ "How do you remember names, places and events that took place decades ago, complete with all the little side details?" "Having a good memory is not always good, you know. It means that you remember the pain of the hurtful aspects of your past. And it also means, that the regret … Continue reading Life Lessons at the Threshold of 35
