The Graveyard of Empires by Eilaf Farajalla
If you are American, politics is something you are advised to abstain from at fancy dinners and polite exchanges with strangers. If you are from the Middle East, then politics is not a choice, it is a reality. When so much of your life is dictated by decisions by people you do not see, it is only fitting to spend a lot of time wondering why those decision come to be. Unexpected perk? Before you are old enough to drive a car, you get good at guessing agendas. If you had access
How "Not" to Meditate by Eilaf Farajalla
It’s amazing how little I know about meditation. You would think that getting an early start would be advantageous in some way. The Muslim prayer, Salah, or “connection” in its literal translation is literally that, meditating. Like most Muslim parents, mine started me off early, at the ripe old age of 7 years old. They were following the Prophet’s directive, who taught that children should be encouraged to pray before turning to 10. Most parents find this easy to do; we see
The Inner Hajj by Eilaf Farajalla
Two years later and the white marble of the piazza in the heart of Makkah still lays bare against the harsh desert sun and, collectively as an Ummah or a Community, we do not know how to deal. Last week, someone wise told me to pay attention to the Inner Hajj, that the religious ritual as a whole, grand and holy in its most magnificent and publicly displayed iteration was representative of a deeply embedded and spiritual longing. I have been paying attention to myself, paying
