May We Have Many More

If someone had walked into my home yesterday, she would have said, “Only in New York!” In a Muslim home, with Quranic calligraphy gracing the walls, a Jewish woman says the Hanukah prayer over the menorah and candles, while the soft sounds of Silent Night, Holy Night play from the replica of Nativity Scene, and the ladies munch over Santa chocolates wrapped in red and silver wrappers.

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Do All Muslims Have Good Knees?

Can you guess the context?
I have been asked many questions about Muslims, the Muslim faith, the Muslim whatever, but this had to be the sweetest and most endearing. If you haven’t already guessed, we were in a mosque, in a prayer hall, in the women’s section, settling down for Friday Jumma prayers. My Jewish friend Bernice and I had just sat down on the red prayer rug.

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Is New Year Greeting Haram?

“Happy New Year,” said one person to another on one New Year morning, January 1, 2019.
Nothing unusual about that, right? Well, one of them didn’t think so. Actually, he took offense. I am not kidding. “It is not our new year. Our new year starts in Muharram. For one Muslim to greet another Muslim with a Happy New Year greeting on January 1 is haram,” …

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My Blind Dates

I had never dated. Not once in my life. But that’s another story. If you want to know more about my date-less life, you will have to read my memoir. For the last two years, I have been back-to-back in blind dates. Sometimes I meet them for coffee, sometimes for dinner, and sometimes I meet up in their homes, staying overnight. Separate bedrooms.

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My Muslim Christmas

Lets start with some Islamic trivia, which, by the way is not trivial. Not by a long shot. Here is the question: In the Quran, only one woman is mentioned by name. Who is it?
The answer: Mary. Mother of Jesus
Did you know that? Here is more: The 19th chapter of the Quran is titled: Maryam—Arabic for Mary

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