drowning

Drowning By Umiemah Farrukh I know what it’s like to drown. It’s embedded in my mind clear as day I got shoved into the deep end by some kids at the pool I can still hear their laughter in my head,  reveling in their cruel, beautiful joke.  I remember the splash my body made as…

Underneath The Rubble

Underneath The Rubble by Umiemah Farrukh Underneath the rubble he cried out for his mother  Somewhere between this world and the hereafter Is where he’d find her next  Underneath the rubble a key, a dress, a wedding picture buried deep in the sand.  How was her life this easily swept away  when the earth decided…

The Price of Fast Fashion

Fashion can be very overwhelming, especially in an age of overconsumption and constantly changing trends. The fast fashion industry thrives off unhealthy shopping habits, and because many of us cannot or do not want to spend too much on clothes, price usually comes before anything else. When price is the determining factor of where we…

Rafay’s Recitations: The Unquiet Dead

When you think of a mystery novel, who are the first authors that come to mind?  For starters, there’s Agatha Christie, the world’s best-selling author with her infamous “Whodunit” mystery The Mousetrap. In fact, Christie’s 66 detective novels were such successes that only Shakespeare and the Bible are in greater circulation. Not to be outdone,…

Rafay’s Recitations: Internment

On January 20, 2021, newly inaugurated President Joe Biden took decisive action for the Islamic community. In a landmark executive order, Biden reversed former president Donald Trump’s infamous “Muslim ban,” which inhibited entry from several Muslim-majority countries.  Over time, the Trump administration modified the ban to encompass several African nations, including Nigeria, Tanzania, and Eritrea.…

Chrysalis

dark not entirely obsidian behind your eyes,splendid sweat drenched in moonlight and stars,mellifluous chirping of crickets,forty-five degrees they position their wings,the vibration reaches your earsinterwoven with the resonance of drums,a divine lullabywhich pounds on your mystic heart,aching for His forgiveness sapphire clouds, aerial as youin a cocoon of flowing cloth,you turn and turn, one with all of…

Rafay’s Recitations: Exit West

Jane Austen. Robert Louis Stevenson. Jack London. Charles Dickens. In the grand scheme of literature, countless novels considered “classics” by modern standards are typically of European, American, or both heritages. While not inherently bad per se, this development has consequently shrouded the beauty and diversity that has become pervasive in international literature.  Indeed, Muslims are…