A Modest Argument

Three Reminders From Bilal | Bilal al-Habashi, An Exemplar of Patience and Devotion

To read about the life of of Bilal al-Habashi, one of the first converts to Islam and the first caller to prayer was very emotional. This book by Hilal Kara and Abdullah…

Mother’s Day, an Argument Against Celebrating

I love seeing women being celebrated and celebrating each other. Reading all the nice posts and seeing the memories shared through pictures is comforting. I’ve never been one to celebrate…

rescued from the fire abdullah nazir uhuru

Rescued from the Fire: Reading Reflections on Race

Rescued from the Fire, by Abdullah Nazir Uhuru was given to me by a sister I’d met through work and was one of those books that sat on my shelf…

learning to love other women building sisterhood

Learning To Love Other Women and Build Sisterhood

As a woman, my relationships with women outside of my family haven’t always been positive. Ironically, I was raised only by women and surrounded by positive life examples in the…

13 Lessons For New Bloggers From My First Month Blogging

I launched this blog 7th March, three weeks before writing this post. There’s some things I could’ve done before I went live to be better prepared and lots I’ve learned…

13 Islamic Words, Phrases and Du’a

New Muslims, and even those who are not so new often come across terms that we aren’t familiar with or only have a basic understanding of. Increasing our Islamic vocabulary directly influences our Islamic knowledge…

praying salah do you have to make up missed prayers

Salah and Making Up Missed Prayers (Qada)

Performing salah on time, every time, is incumbent upon every Muslim, except for those who are exempt like children who haven’t reached puberty and women on their periods. If we find…

Islamic and Community Resources

We’re entering month three of A Modest Argument and I’ve honestly loved sharing with you all and connecting with some of you personally. I really, really appreciate all the support from you…

Ramadan Reminders and Fasting Tips

You who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may be mindful of Allah. Fast for a specific number of…

A Collection of Comforting Quran Verses and Hadith

Ramadhan and Eid can be both the most special and most trying times particularly for new Muslims and even more so if they don’t have an established support network, whether that…

10+ Things New Muslims Wish They Knew

JazakAllahu khayran to the brothers and sisters who contributed to this post by sharing their own experiences of things they didn’t know when they accepted Islam. We can take for granted…

30 Ways To Boost Your Iman

During Ramadhan I posted 30 acts for Ramadhan on Instagram and Facebook that you can download from the Resources page. This list of beneficial acts can be done throughout the year, and below…

Why Muslim Women Must Wear Hijab

“Just do things bit by bit”, they said. “Take it at your own pace”, they said. “Islam is about what matters inside”, They. Said. “It’s your intention that counts”. I’ve…

How To Seek Islamic Knowledge

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيم Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem Seeking knowledge is an essential part of our Islam. Whatever our context; as converts or born Muslims, using informal or formal methods; we seek knowledge…

How To Be Less Sorry And More Productive

I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not writing as often lately. And for not producing all the content I planned on making available. I’m sorry I don’t stick to my schedule,…

How To Plan, Schedule And Promote A Blog

This blog launched back in March 2018, 5 months ago. It grew slowly at first, but I’ve seen a big boost in views and engagement recently. Yay! This post contains a…

Why Converts Gravitate Towards Salafism

Coming To Islam As much as Islam (submission to Allah) is our natural state as people, there is plenty that becomes normalised in our lives that we need to adjust…

How To Make Changes In Your Life

Everybody, in some way, wants to make change. Whether it’s a personal change to do with our own behaviours or circumstances, or an external change to better the lives of other…

How to learn Arabic quickly online

This is not a sales pitch or a paid promotion, I just want to share with you how I learnt to read Arabic in a matter of weeks with tajweed (proper…

How to start a reading schedule and stick to it

Have you wanted to increase the amount you read but struggled to live out your intentions? This post will explore how to read more books by making the most of…

Can Muslims celebrate Halloween?

Can Muslims celebrate Halloween? Sure we can. Just like we can celebrate Christmas and listen to any kind of music we want. You might have Muslim family or friends or…

20 different ways to give charity or sadaqah

Giving in charity is an essential part of our faith as Muslims and we are obliged to give part of our wealth in zakat. Zakat is a prescribed giving of a…

Mental illness is not a foundation for bigotry or violence

A couple of weeks ago I saw a video in which a man verbally attacked some people on a train in a racist and hateful way. This man is a racist. He…

Why are white and black listed as ethnicities?

When working through some feedback forms to tie up a funding grant, part of the information we asked of the participants was their ethnicity. Why do we ask for ethnicity? We ask…

How to centre those with less power in cohesion work

There came a point throughout my work around cohesion that I stopped caring. Not about the goal or about people in general, but about the people whom our work was centred…

My child isn’t involved in the Christmas concert

“I just wanted to be clear that there aren’t any religious connotations in the songs that they’ll be singing” I was told on the phone after requesting to withdraw my daughter…

How to deal as a Muslim convert at Christmas

It’s just a day. Even if you stretch the Christmas period to a week, or two- it’s still a short amount of time. Honestly, it wont last long. And in…

The importance of prayer and thoughts from Imam Ghazali | Living a better life: Part 1

Do you want to live a better a life in 2019? This 8 part series will share tips explaining how to live a better life this year, categorised by our spiritual, physical,…

Examples of dhikr and the value of kinship in Islam | Living a better life: Part 3

Welcome to part 3 in the Living a better life series. This week we’re looking at the value of dhikr, reading the Qur’an and maintaining kinship in Islam. We’ll explore…

How to stop backbiting and renew intentions | Living a better life: Part 4

Spiritual Well-Being Welcome to the final part in the Spiritual Well-Being section of the series where we’re looking at how to stop backbiting, renewing intentions and seeking knowledge. Next week we’ll recap the…

6 things to learn about this Ramadan

Ramadan is a time of worship, of gratitude, of seeking guidance and forgiveness, fasting and reading Qur’an. It’s a blessed month in our religion and making time to learn more about…

11 tips for better spiritual well-being | Living a better life recap

Over the past four weeks we’ve been discussing practical ways to increase our spiritual well-being. The articles included tips with discussions and explanations, and challenges to implement the learning. This article…

5 tips for a healthy Muslim | Living a better life: Part 5

Welcome to part 5 in the Living a better life series, all about physical well-being. Our physical well-being might be one of the most obvious states that we maintain… or neglect.…

Shamima Begum: Hostile Environment

Who is Shamima Begum? Shamima Begum, a young woman who travelled to Syria at age 15 to live among the so-called Islamic State, was recently informed that her British citizenship would be…

Talking about racial privilege

Every so often one meme or another circulates attempting to define white privilege using simple and palatable concepts. One in particular reads that white privilege ‘doesn’t mean your life isn’t hard, it…

Recognising the benefits of fasting and charity | Living a better life: Part 2

This is the second part in our Living a better life series. You can read the first article here. In part 2 we’re discussing fasting and charity. Although some forms…

How to keep your mind in mind | Living a better life: Part 6

Psychological Well-being Continuing on from part 5 of our Living a better life series, this week we’re exploring psychological well-being. How can we build psychological resilience? These tips are a…

When white supremacy is mainstream, is it time to focus on less tolerance, not more of it?

The playing out of the last few days since the terrorist attack against Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand has been really difficult to process. A white supremacist terrorist and self…

How to be a better ally even when you feel marginalised

Allyship and being an ally are phrases often heard within social justice circles and from people that claim titles like liberal, woke or conscious. Sometimes it’s from people who have a…

How to identify and respond to gaslighting

When we talk about difficult topics we will almost definitely cross paths with people who are vocal in their disagreement of our perspective and position on that subject. By ‘difficult…

Looking for motivation and clarity to further your appreciation and understanding of Islam?