Editor’s Blog

Whipping a woman for wearing trousers is an affront to Islam

Last modified on 2009-08-10 14:34:37 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The case of the Sudanese woman, Lubna Ahmed Hussein, who is being tried for wearing trousers has passed quietly.

Just because it is not making headlines, does not make it right. I wrote a comment piece, “Whipping a woman for wearing trousers is an affront to Islam” for the UAE’s The National, www.thenational.ae

To read the article click here

Small Steps

Last modified on 2009-07-29 11:36:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

This is my transcript from today’s Wake up to Wogan show. What is your small deed that could help change your life? Leave a comment below the post.

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I am – I confess – terribly unfit. It affects my life because I have – with three children, a full time job, a fair amount of speaking engagements and some volunteer work – a pretty packed life. If I was fitter it would be easier to do all these things; but because I do all these things it is difficult to carve out time to get fitter. It’s a bit of a conundrum really…

And with this conundrum in my life – I have – for some time – imagined a new me. A me that goes regularly to the gym; a me fit from aerobics; a me with muscles built from Pilates. I imagine a me – not quite Olympian – but certainly not the totally exhausted, unfit me that I currently am. But I cannot imagine me with all that jumping up and down in aerobics, or a me down at the gym lifting weights. And I really cannot imagine me at a Pilates session, even if David Beckham recommends it.

But I am unfit, so I need something that goes beyond imagining and actually gets me exercising… But what?! Something I do naturally every day would be useful.

Breathing of course springs to mind, but that’s not exactly exercise. I type a lot. I talk a lot. I drink a lot of tea – but none of these things would help in my quest to get fit.

Then I found it – walking. If I could find a way to increase my walking to such a point that the walking became exercise – now that would be a way for me to get fit.

So I thought about it for a long while – one can’t just rush these things… Then I got myself two things: a decent pair of walking shoes and a pedometer.

The shoes just make the whole thing more comfortable, but it’s the pedometer which really helps. It measures how much I walk. It’s there – every day – clipped to my trousers –  telling me how well I’m doing. My target is 10,000 steps a day and I am doing pretty well. Yesterday I managed 13,465 steps. I am patting myself on my back as I speak because that’s a big improvement from the 3000 steps I started with.

Without the pedometer measuring me I would not have anything to strive for each day. I realised it’s vital to have something tangible to aim for – a target –  however small really helps.

My lack of fitness was becoming an issue in my life, a problem that seemed too big to sort out, but too big to ignore. In the end, I think the answer has come in something very mundane and everyday.

There is a Muslim saying, “God loves the small deeds done regularly.”

And for sure: small deeds, even small everyday, mundane deeds, when added together can form something big. In my case, I hope it’s a collection of small steps that will allow me to walk to fitness. But for each of us, I believe there is a small deed, which can make a big change in our lives.

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To listen to the slot on the Wake up to Wogan Show, click here (available online until 9:32am Wednesday 5th August)

(My bit is around 1 hour 45 minutes)

Blogging Perseverance

Last modified on 2009-07-14 16:20:18 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The emel team, particularly the feature’s editor, Somaiya Khan, have been wanting me to blog for a long time. I have always resisted, telling them, “life is busy enough.” But they persisted. And persistence – as it tends to in life – won. So here I am with my first blog entry and my first musing: be persistent in life, for as the Qur’an says, “God is with those who patiently persevere.”