Aid Moubarak my brothers and sisters! I hope you all had a fantastic few days and enjoyed the celebrations.
As a convert, and a quite recent one, celebrating Aid feels a bit alien to me. Not that I don't enjoy it and look forward to it, but my childhood memories of celebrations involve christmas trees, sharing a big meal and exchanging gifts with family, and to be honest, celebrating Aid in the UK, without my closest ones, with my husband who misses his country more at than any other time, is something that I felt slightly apprehensive about. Where do we do Qurbani? What sort of sweets I am supposed to cook? What sort of gifts should I buy? What should I wear? Although I fully embrace Islam, and feel at ease with its concepts, I'm still a European at heart, and at times of Aid I realize that there are simply experiences that I might never have. I might never celebrate muslim festivals with my family. I don't have memories of waking up on Aid day with excitement, feeling the magic. Will I be able to make this day special for my children, as Christmas was to me?
Aid day didn't start very well for me this year: it was a weekday, I had a lot to do, didn't know what to prepare, and had to rush to get to the masjid in time to catch the prayer. However, praying with sisters from all countries, all wearing their best clothes, children running around happily, really made my day. Hamdoulillah, I had a glimpse of what Aid is all about: take a break from the mundane life to give thanks and celebrate life, get back in touch with friends, take time to reflect and to relax. And Insha Allah next year I'll celebrate Aid in a muslim country!
That was just my little thought of the day, thanks for reading!

Salaams! I know, it's been a long long while since my last post. Many things have changed! I went back to university to start a research degree, and have been blessed with many opportunities to meet new Muslims. However, I'm still working on calligraphy, art, theatre and whataver creative activities I can get my hands on! At the moment I'm working on a mosaics piece; I got the mosaics bug while working with kids, helping them to decorate mirror frames with the little glass pieces, and I haven't stopped since, although I'm yet to complete a piece. Insha Allah I'll post a picture soon. Mosaics have a long history in the Islamic world, and I have the chance of seeing beautiful pieces in North Africa, where it's used to decorate floors, walls, tables... with colourful geometric shapes.

Here is a picture I took in Walili (also called Volubilis), next to Meknes in Morocco, which is actually a well preserved Roman site (if you go to Morocco, you should definitely check it out!). Muslim countries in general are well known for their art and crafts, and it's really fascinating to see craftsmen carving a table our of wood, and working with iron to create all sorts of objects, reproducing the same gestures as men have for centuries.

Actually the more I learn about Islamic art and culture, the more I'm impressed with its variety, depth and level of detail.

On a different subject, I had the opportunity to take part in a multifaith event recently, and it inspired me to make those two calligraphies, inspired by the stories of Musa and Yusuf (alayhim salam) in the Qur'an Kareem and in the Bible.

I picked those two stories because they are told in very similar ways in both books, which to me highlights their common origin. I'm not sure if it's right to use both quotes from the Bible and the Qur'an side to side though; if somebody has a fatwa please let me know! Khair Insha Allah, for me it was a way of participating in this multi faith debate, and showing the Qur'an as the continuity of all that was revealed to earlier prophets, although al hamdulillah the Qur'an has been preserved in his integrity since it was revealed, which is not the case for the Bible.