It was incredible to see and be among the 3 million pilgrims heading to Muzdalifah – both by bus and walking. The busses held passengers inside, on the roofs, and in the luggage compartments underneath. … More Reliance: How 9 hours defined My Hajj
So, here we are:
Dwellers of the concrete jungle,
Prisoners of our own, man-made environment;
the physical outside distorting the vision inside:
work in boxes,
live in boxes,
think in boxes.
Force-fed your vision of the world we inhabit,
Conditioned to accept the barrage of information which bombards us at hyper-speed. … More Book 2: You Suck!
Every former Hajji has their own unique story. Tales of the days they were blessed to spend on this sacred journey, so beloved that even the struggles and discomfort they faced are not enough to discourage them from wanting to return. At this time of year, that yearning grows stronger. So, what can they do about this? … More Missing Makkah: Special advice for former Hujjaj this season
Sometimes at work you just feel closed in. Bored by what you’ve got to do; restricted by the times you work; and caged in by the physical environment you’re in. … More The Cage
I wrote this 7 years ago, on the rooftop of the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) mosque, a few weeks prior to Hajj 2011. It was our final night in Madinah, and this piece was inspired by the time there. Sadly, I’ve not been back since then. … More A most blessed rooftop
The sun kisses my face
as i sit here in my empty bedroom.
At utter and total peace:
outside –
the subtle symphony of the birds,
the gentle breeze rustles the leaves,
and calm permeates the air
on this gloriously sunny Winter morning… … More Peace
I feel for those who leave their kids behind to undertake this trip. It’s heart-breaking…but it’s a necessary pain. It teaches us that, no matter how strong our attachments to the people we have in this life, we have to leave at some point. We have to meet our Creator. The same goes for attachments to material possessions and status. … More The Journey of a Lifetime
When this blog hit the 10-year mark, I planned on compiling a “best of” – which would be an e-book collecting what I considered my most meaningful creative pieces over that period. It was quite a feat to go through so much content, but I eventually settled on a body of material that I believed would work. The idea was that there would be three distinct areas: poetry (the biggest portion), reflections and prose, and photography. … More The book (that’s still on the way)
Continuing from part 1, here are more standout special effects shots from recent years. … More Special Effects (part 2)
We spend so much time living life, yet not enough time thinking about what are we doing alive. Ponder over the meaning of life, the purpose of our existence, who is responsible for our creation and what happens when we leave. If you don’t want to think about where you came from, at least think about where you are going to go when it’s all over. … More The meaning of life
slip-sliding away..... 