Spending the month of Ramadan has always been a fascinating experience ever since I started taking notice of things around me. There are a few reasons due to which it becomes a special occasion whereby the Muslims whether they be Japanese or otherwise, gather at their nearby local mosques and do Iftar together. Most of …
From mirin to soy sauce, alcohol is an integral part of Japanese stocks, sauces, and other products used to prepare dishes such as soba noodles or nikujaga meat and potato stew. But that alcoholic component excludes many beyond Japan’s shores from trying its cuisine, not least the world’s estimated nearly 2 billion Muslims. Now, in …
Sometimes it feels like it’s just too much – these fluctuations in our iman, the repeated sinning, the feeling that “I just don’t deserve Allah’s mercy.” The tests always feel like punishments. There is a constant worry about the future: my marriage, my money, my career, my ummah (community)… And some difficulties just feel like they …
