Eid Gift Guide

Ramadan is almost here and then it will be Eid! I always try to make it special for my little cousins so that they grow up loving Eid and not think, as I did when I was a kid, that it is boring. So I wanted to put together a gift guide which will hopefully help you in finding Eid gifts and inspiration for a wonderful fun Eid!

I always like to get my Eid shopping done before Ramadan so I can focus on my ibadah and being my perfectionist self I just cannot leave it too late to buy Eid gifts!

Okay so before I share some of the wonderful small businesses that have some great gifts and even Ramadan décor I just want to share my own shop which has a set of Islamic quotes bookmarks and lots of others. I also sell painted books which are perfect gifts for the bookworm in your life!

My etsy shop is The Tsundoku Chronicles

So here are some of the wonderful shops that I have found!

Ibraheem Toy House – They have such great toys and gadgets for kids!

Anafiya – They also sell really great toys, books and even decorations!

Salam Occasions – I love the home items and cute clothes in their shop!

Noorah Gifts – They have some great gifts for both kids and adults. I love their frames and mugs!

Sahih Gifts – They have wonderful gifts for everyone in your family!

Every Cloud Silver Lining – I love their beautiful range of home décor and kids items

Start With Bismillah– They have such beautiful prints to decorate your house with and make wonderful gifts

Oh Panda Eyes – Beautiful bookish jewellery for the booknerd in your life

Your Muslim Gift – I love their décor items both for Eid and Ramadan!

Habibi Arabic Shop – I love their items so much! Some really great and unique items!

Kube Publishing – My one stop shop for all of my Islamic books both for adults and kids!

So here are a few of the wonderful shops that have some wonderful unique items that will make great gifts for all your family and friends. I hope you can find some great gifts!

PS. Don’t forget to treat yourself!

If you know any other great small businesses, then do share!

What Feminism Means To Me – International Women’s Day

Over the years feminism and I have had a love hate relationship. I have slowly developed a relationship with the term even though I have been a strong advocate for female empowerment since I was teen. It’s just that word, feminism, and everything that comes with that word, that I haven’t always been on good terms with.

Anyone who knows me will know that I am always advocating for female empowerment whether it’s through discussing how important having access to a good education is important for women to talking about stigma’s in society that creates injustices for women. As I am part of the south Asian community, I especially discuss how certain cultural practices harm women and should be stopped. I have had to fight these barriers and stigmas growing up so I fight against them to help my sisters to help my cousins to help those who are younger than me so they don’t have to grow up with the same stigmas.

Yet do I call myself a feminist? I have gone from calling myself a feminist proudly to distancing myself from it to saying yes I am a feminist but not one that the media shows to so much more. Basically, it’s complicated. It’s complicated because I am a brown, Pakistani, Muslim woman who wears a hijab. I don’t “look” like a feminist. What does a feminist look like anyways?

Well mainstream media will have you believe that a feminist is a white middle class woman and I clearly don’t fit that description. I call that white feminism. It’s a type of feminism I hate because there is no space for women who don’t look like or have the same opinions as them. It’s women like these who made me want to distance myself from the term.

I have been told that I NEED to take my hijab off to be “liberated” and how they feel so sorry for me because of how I am “forced” to dress and when I tried explaining I did in fact choose to wear what I wear, I was told I don’t understand, it’s just internalised misogyny. Safe to say that we did not become friends.

After a while as I got older, I realised that actually female empowerment doesn’t only look the way that they say it does. As I studied Islam more I found that the religion is so empowering for women. It made me even more passionate about speaking up about female empowerment. I realised that a lot of the cultural practices go against what Islam teaches. I changed, I grew, I taught others around me and although the elders still cling to their cultural practices I have found that the youth fight for their rights, especially young women. For example, girls are often not allowed to go into higher education yet in Islam it is compulsory for every man, woman and child to be educated so women knowing this means they can fight to be able to study further.

Another reason that I have a complicated relationship with feminism is because of a lack of women we are shown as empowered that look like me. The last few years especially, I have noticed that a lot of feminist books are being published yet there is still no sign of women who look like me. Most of the women are white and if there is a Muslim woman included it is always Malala, no offence to her but in 1400 years of Islamic history is she really the only woman that is worthy of being included? It’s actually made me stop reading these types of books unless I know that more diverse women are included. I ended up doing my own research into Muslim women and the results were astounding, since the beginning of Islam women have been a part of all areas of society, from warriors to doctors to scholars to rulers and so much more. It’s these women who encompassed all parts of my life who became my role models.

So yes, I am a feminist and I think it’s time we broadened our idea of what feminism is, because it means different things to different people and they are all valid. I can wear a hijab and be empowered, I can follow my religion and be empowered. In fact I feel more empowered because of my religion. I will continue to learn and grow but I will always fight for female empowerment.

Bollywood Romantic Comedies Recommendations

It was Valentine’s Day yesterday but I was a little late getting this written but hey, Valentine’s shouldn’t be just one day! So whether you want to celebrate with someone special or your friends or even have a chilling evening with you and only you I thought I would share my favourite Bollywood rom coms to watch! Bollywood films are some of my faves because I am telling you no one does rom coms like Bollywood.

They are my absolute favourites to watch and I can watch them again and again and still cackle at how over dramatic and hilarious they are. I live for the Bollywood dramatics!

So here are some of my favourite Bollywood rom coms that you should all watch:

Jab we Met – This film is one of my all time faves and Kareena is especially amazing in this!
Synopsis: Aditya, a heartbroken tycoon on the verge of committing suicide, aimlessly boards a train. He meets Geet, a high-spirited girl who plans to elope with her lover, and finds himself pulled into her crazy life.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani – This film has me in hysterics, every single time I watch it. It’s ridiculous and one hell of a feel good film.
Synopsis: Prem falls for Jenny, a woman who is already in love with a man named Rahul. Despite this, he agrees to help her marry him and gets into various comical situations as a result.

Om Shanti Om – I loved this story so much! It will make you and cry and will have you dancing along to the dance numbers
Synopsis: Om, a junior film artist, is smitten by Shantipriya, a renowned actress, but is killed while trying to save her from a fire accident. Thirty years later, he is reborn and sets out to avenge her death.

Kal Ho Na Ho – Crying sobbing mess. But will also make you laugh. What more do you need?
Synopsis: Naina, a girl living a dreary life, finds a new meaning to her life when she meets Aman. Even though she loves him, Aman claims to be a married man and convinces Rohit, her friend, to woo her.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai – My absolute fave film as a teen and still such a wonderful film to watch.
Synopsis: After reading the letter her mother had written for her before she died, Anjali decides to bring together her widowed father, Rahul, with his true love who is also named Anjali.

Be warned that thses are the newest of Bollywood films but they are ones that I love watching. And still vividly remember even if it’s been a long time since I last watched them.

Bingeworthy TV Shows

So this is around the time that new seasons of all our favourite shows start. And as it gets older and darker I just love snuggling on the sofa in my blanket and a cup of tea and watch my favourite shows. So I thought I would share some of the shows I love watching.

Especially as the shows I love to watch are very different to the types of books I love to read. I love fantasy and sci-fi books but I when it comes to shows I love watching crime and thriller/mystery shows, even though I don’t particularly like reading those books.

Anyways here are my favourite shows:

1 NCIS – I have been watching this show since practically the beginning and it never fails me. I can watch this show every single day on repeat and never get bored! I love the characters and their banter and they have such great story arcs and one of the slowest of slow burn romances ever!

2 Criminal Minds – Another show that I love watching the repeats even though it is pretty dark at times but I love how the whole team is like a family!

3 How To Get Away With Murder – My sister convinced me to watch this and omg I love it! I love to watch all the episodes in the season over a few days though. So I always wait for the season to end before watching it. Look every episode leaves me wanting to know what will happen next and I can’t take that week wait

4 Sherlock – I watch the episodes ALL THE TIME I absolutely the BBC Sherlock. They are witty and sarcastic and has me totally engrossed every single time no matter how often I watch it

5 Ertugrul – This is a Turkish show inspired by the real history of Ertugrul, who is the father of Osman. Osman founded the Ottoman Empire. I am completely and entirely addicted and obsessed with the show and I highly recommend watching it!

So here are the shows I love to watch and often binge watch. Do you watch any of these? What are your favourite shows to watch?

Places I Would Love To Travel To

One of the things I discussed with my husband before getting married was that I wanted to travel. I wanted to see the world and experience different cultures and see historic places.

But because I grew up in quite a big family, holidays were always way to expensive for us growing up so I’ve only been on holiday a few times in my life and it has made me want to travel even more!

I am a huge history nerd so for me a holiday is going exploring and discovering the history of the place we travelled to. The worst type of holiday for me is one where I sit by the beach, I would get insanely bored and drive my husband crazy. Trust me, we tried that for one of the days we were on holiday and lets just say it was a stressful experience.

Due to my husband being at university soon after we got married we had to put travelling on hold but now that he has graduated and started working we have finally been able to discuss where to go and I am SO EXCITED!

Honestly there are so many places I want to see and things I want to do I am having a difficult time trying to figure out where to go, though our first one will probably be in Europe somewhere.

So I thought I would talk about some of the places I want to visit one day and share my excitement with all of you!

I have always wanted to travel to Italy and Greece because they are so rich in history! I have spent a weekend in Athens a few years ago and honestly it was the best holiday ever! I saw all the historical places and everything was so beautiful. I cannot wait to go to Italy and visit all the historical places there.

I also want to go to Guatemala and Peru. I want to do the trek to Machu Picchu and visit the Mayan city. I want to go to Jordan to go to Petra and see those amazing buildings built into the mountains. I want to visit Egypt and see the pyramids and all the ancient Egyptian artefacts and history.

I want to visit China to walk on the great wall of China and learn more about it. I want to go to Spain and visit Andalusia and see the amazing architecture and history. I want to go to Morocco to see the oldest University. The list is endless and I could goon for ages!

A lot of these places a filled with history of the Islamic world and it’s always what has fascinated me most. Being Muslim means I have learnt a lot about these as they mentioned in the Quran and also reading history books written about the Islamic world so I want to experience these places in real.

I know that going to some of these places with the current climate may not be possible and my health conditions may prevent me from doing some of the more strenuous things like the hiking up the mountains but that won’t stop me from dreaming!

Do you like travel? Where would you love to visit? Have you been to any of these places?